A Blessing in Disguise? - Revised
by Blackbird26419
Summary: What if Orochimaru sunk his fangs into Sakura instead of Sasuke? Of course not on purpose but how will the story turn out? Will she ignore the dark whispers of the mark or do a Sasuke and leave Konoha? - Revised, the old one will be kept up but I will only update this one.
1. Chapter 1

LIke Anti-clockwise, I decided to revise A blessing in disguise as it didn't flow as well as I hoped it would. I apologise for the lack of updates as I spent the unannounced 'hiatus' to plan and make sure all of Is and Ts were crossed and dotted in regards of the plot. I don't have a clear out come of this story yet but even a compulsive planner like me likes to leave gaps for adaptation in the future.

This story is set in an AU obviously and will be Sakura-centric... Her character will be altered in ways that I had hoped she was turn out as she is a favourite of mine regarding skills, it is quite impressive that she acquired that amount of skill that she has even though she is from a civilian family - personality wise she's like a cardboard... and she is massively annoying in regards of Sasuke -.-. Oh wells this story will revolve around a bond between Anko and Sakura - to be honest I haven't a clue to where and this 'pairing' caught my interests.

Anyway... Rant time: I have to start my revised stories like these XD. What in the world is Kishimoto doing? When 'Gaiden' was announced I wasn't going to read it but I was curious as the first thing I noticed about Sarada was that she looked like Karin... I swear Kishimoto is turning Naruto into a soap opera... I love both Yuri and hetero couples but I do have to say for some reason I feel that InoSaku would have been a better paring than the bullshit created by Kishimoto.

Disclaimer: I do no own any of this...

ENJOY!

 _Ugh, what happened?_

Her eyes flutter open slowly before clamming shut again as a burning sensation shot through her body

 _Gah! It hurts! Sasuke-kun? Naruto?_

"Sakura-chan," A voice sang.

 _That voice! Where have I heard it before?_

Panic ran through the girl as her attempts at opening her eyes and mouth fail. As the pain increased, her eyes screwed tighter together before becoming too much and losing consciousness.

"Sakura-chan…" the luring voice sang again.

A.B.I.D

The pinked haired kunoichi groaned as she sat up, hands automatically grabbing the sides of her head with her eyes shut, like doing so would stop the pain. Freezing she realises that the burning sensation she felt was non-existent.

"Saku-chan…"

Her senses immediately flip to alert, headache long forgotten as she straightens and her hand moved to her weapon holster. Emerald eyes scan aroun cautiously. "W-who's there?" She stuttered.

Chuckling they step out of the shadows, arms crossed loosely over their chest. "Aw, Sakura-chan I'm hurt. You don't remember me?" A smirk makes its way onto the person's face as the pinkette's eyes widen in shock before a look of recognition and disbelief paints its way onto her face.

"I-i-inner?"

"Yes Saku-chan, it's me."

"W-what happened to you?" The pinkette stuttered still in a state of shell shock. In front of her was her inner self, the part of her that she locked away from the rest of the world. The parts of her that she declared were faults and buried deep within. She blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes with fisted hands. A feeling of terror shot down her spine as she felt the coldness, hostility and power coming from her alter-ego. Hate and many other negative emotions seemed to roll off of her inner self in waves. And many of them she recognised, she felt them a lot during her childhood. And she did the only thing she knew, she buried them deep inside which in result created the person in front of her. Her legs shook as they gave out and she dropped onto her hands and knees.

Her doppelganger chuckled bitterly, "Orochimaru's what happened." Sighing at the look of confusion on her 'outer' self's face. "Ya really don't remember what happened?"

A shake of the head is what she got in reply.

"Remember, you tackled Sasuke out of the way before the snake bastard could do whatever he was gonna do to him but he got us instead."

Sakura groaned painfully and grabs her head again as the memories came rushing back.

 ** _"SASUKE!" She screamed at her frozen teammate, before her brain could catch up with her body. She was moving in the direction of her teammate with a surprising amount of speed and tackled the last Uchiha out of the way._**

 ** _Emerald eyes widen as a set of teeth breaks the skin of her neck. A burning sensation spreads through her veins. She grabs her neck and she screams out in pain before collapsing onto the tree branch. The angry shout of "How dare you get in my way, you damned wench! No matter, you will not survive to tell the tale. I'll be back for you, Sasuke-kun," was the last thing she heard before everything went black._**

Sakura gasped as the memory came rushing back. "No, no, no!" She whispered as she clumsily yanked the collar of her red dress. "Fuck! This cannot be happening!"

"Oh, but it is Saku-chan."

Fear washed over the pinkette as she glanced back at her inner self. She audibly gulped. Her inner self was now covered in black marks, the marks seemed to move on their own and spread against her others skins as a malicious grin spread across her face.

"Can't feel it Saku-chan?"

Sakura's eyes widen as she looks at her inner self, "s-so much power." She gasped, _t-this is more power than I have ever felt before._ "H-how did you get so much power?"

"That thing that Orochimaru put on us, I dunno what it does but all I know is that when you passed out. I knew we were gonna die if I didn't do anything. So I absorbed whatever that thing was supposed to do to us. And then this happened."

"S-so m-much chakra,"

"That's right Saku-chan don't fight it, embrace it." Sticking out her hand she continued, "Take my hand Saku-chan."

"B-but its s-so dark and e-evil," she shivered as the temptation grew.

"Yes, maybe, but its power. What have we been from the start of team seven?"

"A burden," Sakura blurted out. Her eyes widened as the realisation hit her like a tonne of bricks. At first she thought it was her doubts but as the scenes of the past two and a half months flash through her mind, she saw just how useless she was.

 _"You're even worse than Naruto."_ The comment flashed through her mind, like a sign on an electronic belt.

"Do you still want to be a burden?"

"N-no,"

"Then embrace this gift, use this power given to you - given to us. It's about time the world meets the real us."

Sakura's emerald eyes trail up the out stretched hand up to the owners face. Her eyes stopped at the label 'inner Sakura' that seemed to be branded on the other's forehead. She bites her lip, a habit she's always had when she was nervous or unsure of something. _Inner has always been someone I could trust, she would never do anything that would hurt me – correction us._ Taking a deep breath, her decision made, forest green eyes meet her doppelgänger as her hand slowly reached out to the outstretched hand…

A/N: From previous reviews people were surprised to read that inner Sakura had an accent and to be honest I don't really know where that came up. it was more of a spontaneous idea and I wrote it in as in this story inner was developed through more of a psychological perspective of repressed emotions and such.


	2. Chapter 2

Hazy forest green eyes flash dangerously as she pulls herself up into a sitting position, her chakra flares slightly in her panicked state before her eyes take a look at her surroundings and she calms down a little. She hesitantly moves her right hand to pull at her collar. Her viridian eyes sting with anger tears at the sight of the mark, which she later found out is a curse seal. She growls as she remembers the events of the past two weeks.

A jolt of pain surges through her as the hand holding her collar moves to grab the location of the mark tightly. As if placing her hand over it will remove the mark and end the ever so painful nightmare.

She sighs tiredly as she flops back down onto her bed, releasing her hold on her neck and throwing her arm over her eyes as the pain slowly subsides. She attempts to go back to sleep but the memory of meeting her inner kept flashing into her mind as well as other key events that happened in the Forest of Death. She shudders as the thoughts pop into her head.

Knowing her chances of going back to sleep were slim, she slowly sits back up and leans against the headboard. She tugs at her pyjamas again and looks at the annoying mark that was left just above her collar bone. She frowns as she remembers the meeting with her inner. Since when was her inner self so full of hate and hostility? She shudders as she remembers the terrifying power that literally rolled off of her in waves. _What did she mean by 'it's about time the world met the real us'?_

She sighs again. After the encounter with her alter-ego, a million unanswered questions sprang up and most importantly, _what happened to inner?_ After she grabbed her others hand, it was like her other self-disappeared. But she knew that couldn't be correct because she could still sense her inner and the terrifying power that she holds.

Feeling another migraine coming, she pinches the bridge of her nose. The damned curse seal caused a tonne of problems, not only did her inner suddenly decide to either take a vacation in her mind or lie dormant. But she's been leaking! The part of herself that she suppressed for so long has been coming out. She blinks at her last thought and frowns again.

Could it be that because she suppressed her real self and all the negative emotions that she's ever felt in her short life has caused inner Sakura to become what she is? Is that really what she is? A person with a desperate thirst for destruction that she would use any power given to her.

 ** _Do you still want to be a burden? Then embrace this gift and use the power given to you._** Her inner's words, her frown deepens as she recalls the words.

A part of her was so tempted to use the power given to her, _even if it did come from a bastard that was after Sasuke._ She growls dangerously at the thought as she remembers keys aspects of what happened that day. _Orochimaru's target was Sasuke. So, Naruto and I were nothing but collateral damage._ Her rage subsides as she frowns at her hazy memory. The only things she could recall from that day was tackling Sasuke out of the way and the meeting with her inner. _Damn that bastard, maybe I should just use this thing and hunt that bastard down and make him pay for even trying to brand Sasuke with this hideous excuse of power._

She sighs again, knowing her sudden thoughts of tearing the snake bastard from limb from limb and killing him in the most horrid way possible was definitely not normal, _not that he doesn't deserve it._ She shakes her head at her own ludicrousy. _Yep, I'm going insane. Maybe I should skip training and talk to a medic Nin or maybe I should pay Ino's dad a visit._

Her eyes widen as she turns her attention to her nightstand and the black alarm clock sitting on top. "Fuck!" she curses as leaps out of her bed rushes towards the bathroom.

A.B.I.D

 _Shit, shit, shit._ She was late for her training session with Kakashi-sensei. She pumps some chakra into her legs as she speeds down the narrow streets of the village. _Damn it!_ She knew she shouldn't have gotten so lost in thought or even bothered to think back to that incident. Every time she did, she ended up stuck in the same spot forever.

She slows down to a fast walk as she finally takes a bite out of the piece of toast that has been hanging out of her mouth ever since she left her house.

As she takes another bite out of the near devoured piece of bread, her eyes drift to the bandages wrapped tightly around her right hand. She frowns slightly as the annoying itch comes back, _stupid Chidori and its stupid self-harming side effect._ Over the week that has just past, Kakashi has been teaching her and Sasuke the Chidori even though she tied with Ino in the preliminary rounds and didn't make it into the finals. She scowls as she remembers the third day of training where she couldn't even make a little bit of lightning appear in her hand whilst Sasuke could at least make a mini version of the full Jutsu. Obviously she isn't a lightning user but Kakashi still made her learn it and when she asked why, he would reply with _The Chidori is a better weapon than the curse mark._ Her scowl deepens a little; _I bet if I never got this stupid mark, he wouldn't even bother._

She slows down to a normal walking pace, her lips turn upwards and her viridian eyes light up as she spots her favourite shop. _Might as well_ , she thought with a shrug as she made her way to the enterance.

A.B.I.D

Finishing the last of her dango, she lazily tosses the skewer over her shoulder as she heads towards the location of her teammate and teacher. Her eyes narrow slightly at the familiar sound of chirping birds; she stuffs her hand into her pockets with a sigh. Her mood dampens a little as she remembers the condition of the red dress after the Forest of Death and the Preliminaries, by the time she got out of the hospital and returned home it was all dirtied up with mud and blood and there were several rips and tears in it. Though she was fond of the attire, it wasn't practical enough which she realised in the forest of death and she was thankful for the wakeup call because she was sure if she didn't realise it then, she would never have bought the new outfit she has now. Her new clothes not only made her look good but also made her look more of a ninja. Currently she is wearing a black tank top, a pair of quarter length black shorts, black ninja sandals and a high collared red jacket with white circles each arm.

"You're late Sakura." The voice breaks her out of her musings as she turns to her teammate Uchiha Sasuke.

She grins sheepishly and scratches the back of her neck, "sorry, I was on my over when I heard dango calling my name. And of course I couldn't leave the problem unattended." She freezes as she realises what she just said, _dammit! I've been hanging around Kakashi-sensei too much,_ she concluded. She made a mental note to herself to spend as little time with the man as possible; she really didn't want to pick up anymore of his habits _, like reading Icha Icha in public._ But then again if she didn't spend as much time with her sensei as she has been then she would never have gotten the increase in her stamina, speed and chakra reserves that have almost doubled over the course of the week. Or get to know him or Sasuke better and as she started to understand her teammate and teacher better, the relationships have developed as well.

"Tch, you eat too much of that stuff." His eyes narrow at the rosette, "you were thinking again."

She frowns at how transparent she is to the last Uchiha but it was all the confirmation he needed. Yes, the relationship between the two Genin definitely improved. After saving him from receiving the curse mark, Sasuke has been a little warmer and more protective of his female teammate. While Sakura stopped the annoying declarations of affection and started to act more like herself. Through the events of the Chunin Exams and training sessions has made her see that her 'love' for the lone Uchiha had been false. As they trained together, she realised her feelings were solely based on an obsession of what she thought the boy was and an admiration for his skills. But now those feelings have morphed and changed into feelings which would and could only be felt between siblings.

Yes siblings, who would have thought that Haruno Sakura would ever think of Uchiha Sasuke as a brother?

"Good to see, you've finally made it Sakura-chan." Kakashi greets cheerfully, with one of his eye smiles.

She chuckles nervously, "sorry, I kinda got side tracked."

"It's okay Sakura-chan," she lets out a breath; she didn't know she was holding at the reply, "but that doesn't mean that you will go unpunished."

"WHAT! That's not fair! You're always late; you don't ever see me, Naruto or Sasuke punishing you for being late!" She shouts back in disbelief while pointing a finger at the Copy Nin.

"Aa, yes but I am your Sensei so I make the rules Sakura-chan." he replies with a smirk.

"I'll remember this." she grumbles as she crosses her arms over her chest and scowls at the ground.

"Good, Sasuke and Sakura tai-Jutsu spar."

The pinkette groans as she follows her teammate to an open space and gets into a stance. "Sadistic bastard," she growls as she blocks a punch.

A.B.I.D

"You okay Sakura?" Sasuke asks with a smirk.

"What do you fucking think!" she growls at the last Uchiha.

"Now, now Sakura-chan, such language should not be used by a lady." The masked ninja teases, "get up we're not done."

She groans as she gets up again and ducks the fist aiming for her head. She blocks another and another before a leg trips her up making her fall flat on her face.

"Tsk, tsk. Sakura-chan, you could do much better."

"Yeah, well I would if you didn't make my weights heavier!" the pinkette screams at the silver haired ninja as she glares at him.

 _Thank you kami, that looks cannot torture and maim._ The Copy Nin thought, "Alright, Sasuke you done?"

"Hn."

"Alright, I want the two of you to practice your Chidori on that boulder." He points a glove covered hand at a boulder to the side.

The last Uchiha wordlessly gets up and into position whilst the rosette got up with another groan and slowly dragged herself to her teammate. Once in position, the two share a nod as they simultaneously do the same hand signs. A blue ball of lightning sparks in their hands, Sakura frowns as she watches her ex-object of affection charge at the boulder, the attack filling the silent environment with a chirping like sound. _He's Chidori is always bigger than mine._ She inwardly cursed her small chakra reserves because of the lack of her reserves, she can only make a little one or else she'll drain herself like she tried before. Her chakra was so depleted after a few seconds of activating the Jutsu that she had to be carried home by her sensei. Seeing Sasuke flip backwards, she also charges at the boulder.

Kakashi watched with his arms crossed over his chest and nods as Sasuke back flips in front of him, his gaze turns to the soon charging girl. He frowns slightly as he watches her attack the poor boulder. After hearing what happened in the Forest of Death the Copy Nin couldn't help but feel as if he failed his students even though all the other Jonin disagreed, all saying something along the lines 'you couldn't have predicted Orochimaru would encounter your team.' His frown deepens, he knew he couldn't predict Orochimaru seeking them out but he could have at least prepared them more and trained them from the start. Though he did it unconsciously, he favoured Sasuke over the other two, whether it was due to the last Uchiha being his previous teammate's cousin or him being a mirror image of himself when he was younger, that was in the past. _What's done is done…_ Oh how he hated that phrase but it was true, no matter what he did now couldn't change the past. The only thing he could do now was make sure to not fail his teammates and students again. As he watched his pink haired student charge at the boulder, he felt a swell of pride. Over the course of the week he's noticed that his only female student had a lot of potential but it was hidden due to her false affection for Sasuke. He was glad and thankful that kami gave him another chance to witness Sakura's development from the little fan girl she was two weeks ago to a hard working Kunoichi. He couldn't be more proud.

Seeing the rosette flip backwards breaks him out of his train of thought, "Okay, Sasuke, you have great power and speed but you're still putting too much chakra into the Jutsu. We will work on your chakra control a bit more." The last Uchiha grunts in reply, "Sakura, you have great chakra control. You do not put more chakra than necessary but you lack the power at the jab, you will need to increase your speed for this and once your reserves increase we'll try a full powered one. However the two of you still need work on the sparks; I doubt the two of you want to be wearing bandages all the time." The rosette nods in reply. "Alright, Sakura you can go and keep the weights on, they will gradually increase your speed and do get here on time tomorrow."

"Um, Kakashi-sensei…"

"Hm?"

"I think I can train on my own from here."

Sasuke's eyes widen a little as he turns his attention to the pinkette, as the Copy Nin raises a brow at his only female student.

"O-oh I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything. I just think that you should train Sasuke more since he's going to be in the finals. I'll be fine on my own for the rest of the month. "

"Well, if this is what you want then we'll carry on after this month." The masked ninja shrugs.

The pinkette grins, "Alright, I'll see you at the stadium then."

"Sakura," Sasuke says with a frown.

"Don't worry Sasuke; I'll be fine on my own."

His lips twitch upwards into a small smile, "thank you."

"Sakura," said girl turns her attention back to her teacher, her brow rises in confusion as his hand lowers and ruffles her hair, "you've improved a lot this week. I'm very proud of you."

She blinks in shock before she smiles at him. "Thanks Kakashi-sensei." Her smile soon turns into an evil smirk, "oh and you two better be on time. If you guys are late to the finals, I promise there will be serious consequences."

The two males quickly nod. "D-don't worry Sakura-chan. We'll make it on time." Kakashi replies with an eye smile.

"Good." She answers before making her way to the exit.

A.B.I.D

Sakura groans as she slowly drags herself down the streets of Konoha. Her legs slowly take her to a familiar shop. _Aa dango, definitely earned._

"Ah! Sakura-chan nice to see you back! The usual?" the shop keeper greets cheerfully.

"Yeah please." She replies tiredly as she plops herself down onto a table.

The shop keeper chuckles at the younger girl, "another day of training?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei was being a sadistic bastard; he practically beat me up today."

The shop keeper chuckles again as he places a dish in front of the younger girl. The pinkette reaches for her wallet when a hand stops her, "don't worry about it Sakura-chan, it's on the house."

The pinkette blinks before she grins, "Thank you so much, Isshin-san!"

A.B.I.D

In the Hokage's office; Sarutobi Hiruzen famously known as the Sandaime Hokage and the professor of all Shinobi, he should be doing the mountains of paperwork that comes with the job. If one were to enter his office they would think he was day dreaming as he sat smoking his pipe and stroking his beard. His gaze focuses as he turns from the stacks of paper to his crystal ball; his thoughts were of what he witnessed between Kakashi and his two students not so long ago.

He's secretly been observing the trio over the course of the week, mainly Sakura. The girl has improved greatly over the week; he was truly impressed with the girl's development. He takes another puff as a thought enters his mind, after all leaving the girl unattended for the month could be dangerous especially if she's doing training without supervision. He nods to at the thought, moving her to the command of one that has experience with the curse mark will not only take a load off his shoulders but benefit the girl as well but the cons that come with the idea. The main being the council; his previous teammates and Danzo which he didn't fully trust. Yes the three are going to disagree greatly with his next decision. He shakes his head at how annoying the three elders can be even though two of them were his old teammates, he couldn't help but feel a tad bit annoyed at having them at situations like this, seriously from the way they questioned his every decision and such, you would think they didn't trust him or see him fit to be the Hokage.

"Crow,"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" The ANBU appears with his head bowed.

"Bring me Mitarashi Anko."

A/N: I've always seen two outcomes for the relationships between team seven - either Naruto and Sakura get together and for some time I did expect it to happen, and a friend told me about rumour that it was supposed to happen after Kishimoto wrote about the hug in the Pein arc but he scraped his work in order to please the fans - not sure if it was true or not... Or they have a sibling relationshop - Sakura and Naruto would outgrow their crushes and move on... Sasuke is plain asexual in my eyes XD.


	3. Chapter 3

Mitarashi Anko famously known as a proctor of the Chunin exams and Konoha's most Psychotic Kunoichi, seeing her with a box of dango in hand was not an uncommon sight. She hoovers dango like Naruto does with Ramen - which is another parallel between the two ninja, but the excited gleam in her chocolate brown orbs, the giant grin that could literally split her face in two and the extra bounce in her step was definitely unusual. So as the infamous snake mistress made her way down the streets of Konoha and towards the civilian sector. Everyone made sure to stay out of her way.

Though not an unusual sight for ninja and civilians to stay out of the psychotic kunoichi's path, they were usually more discreet. Like showing her the upmost respect and 'slyly' dodging her and staying out of her way. But you couldn't really blame them could you? After all who would want to be in the way of a psychotic woman who is also known for her skills in torture?

Whether the purple headed kunoichi noticed the treatment or not, she simply continued on her merry way.

Now, why was Mitarashi Anko in such a good mood?

 ** _"You summoned me, Hokage-sama?"_**

 ** _"Ah, yes. Anko I have an offer for you," the leader of the village smiled one of his famous grandfatherly smiles at the woman in front of him, "I know you have wanted a student for a while and though the council have yet to agree. I believe I have the perfect candidate for you."_**

 ** _The kunoichi blinked in surprise before her lips part into a giant grin, totally forgetting that she was talking to the strongest ninja in Konoha, she blurts out the first thing that came to mind. "Who, who?" it took everything she had to not jump up and down on the spot._**

 ** _"Haruno Sakura."_**

Today is the day; she would finally be getting a student. No matter how much she made it seem that she hated kids, she secretly thought they were adorable and has always wanted a student. Seriously, what ninja wouldn't want someone they could pass their skills onto? After all an opportunity like this only comes once for someone like her and once only.

She knows the council would never assign her a team of Genin even if she did decide to go on and take the Jonin exams to become a full Jonin. No matter how much the Hokage trusted her or what she did for the village; she knew the old bats would never approve of her as a teacher to rookies. She couldn't blame them for being cautious, not only does she have Jutsu leading to Konoha's most dangerous missing nin but she also has the thrice damned mark on her neck which makes her a direct link to the bastard. She understood that many were wary and that many dislike her due to her betrayal all those years ago, though she believes that people should just get over it. She knows she had no one else to blame but herself for being too trusting and naïve to blindly follow her ex-mentor.

The corners of her lips dip downwards at the thoughts of her past and how it's affected how people treated her now. _Oh well, what's done is done._ She shrugged and pushed the 'what if' thoughts to the back of her mind, and thought back to her new student; Haruno Sakura, which immediately lightens her mood.

Yeah, the kid's skills were pretty shabby and if she had to be honest and say it out loud, they were downright embarrassing to even be called 'skills'. She scowled slightly at the thought of her first and probably last student being an exam washout but there's always time to improve yourself, and from what she's heard from the Hokage, the girl was finally taking the life of a kunoichi seriously. Not that she could blame the girl after her experience in the Forest of Death.

Apart from academy records of the girl which made her want to smack herself then summon Manda and use the girl she's supposed to teach as a sacrifice. The recent reports from Hatake were quite a surprise; he stated that the girl had above average chakra control. He estimated it to be high level Chunin to about low level Jonin and unfortunately him being Hatake Kakashi, there wasn't much detail. She sighed to herself, _more work for me_. A smirk spreads across her lips at the thought of the girl's chakra control, if it really was that developed then she had no doubt the girl will be a force to be reckoned with, once she was done with her. After all in theory having extremely good chakra control technically allows you to learn and master any Jutsu.

Not to mention the girl did also survive the curse seal - probably the reason why she's assigned to the pinkette. Thinking of the curse seal the Jonin unconsciously moved her hand to the mark. She frowned at her failure; she swore long ago that she would make sure no one would ever get marked again. She shook her head to rid the thoughts as her mind returns back to her student.

Only one in ten people survive the curse seal and yet she did. Yeah, it's got to mean something. And how can she forget the preliminary fight with the Yamanaka girl, not only did she break out of their family's secret clan Jutsu but she was also able to control the curse mark.

 _Chakra control plus broom head's own original Jutsu; Chidori,_ the girl will definitely have a name for herself and go down in history by the time she was done playing with her.

With a new goal, a determined gleam sparkled in her chocolate brown orbs before spotting her destination and the determined sparkle turned into a predatory gleam and an excited grin breaks out on her face.

A.B.I.D

Sakura stomped her way downstairs with an audible thud and an angry scowl marring her features, though she was not particularly angry with the one banging on her door.

'BANG, BANG!'

"Alright, hold your god damn horses!" Okay maybe just a little of the reason of why she's in a bad mood is due to the banging that woke her up from her nightmare free slumber, which she hasn't had since the Chunin exams started. But the root reason of her mood was because it was noon! She's stopped training with Kakashi-sensei for one day and she was already slacking! Her scowl deepened at the thought; a vein appeared on the side of her forehead and began to throb as the banging got louder. She growled and stomped even harder against the wooden floors to the front door.

"Oi pinkie, open the fucking door already!"

Her hand stopped just over the door handle. _That voice! Why does it sound oddly familiar?_ Her teeth grit at the thought, she had an eidetic memory and she couldn't remember who the voice belonged to! _Definitely because of the stupid curse seal_ , she concluded as she cursed Orochimaru with every profanity she knew under her breath.

"I know yar' there pink! I can feel ya chakra on the other side of the door!"

Her scowl returned as she literally rips the door open before she froze and blinked in shock at her sudden visitor, her expression changes into one of confusion as she couldn't for the life of her remember who the person in front her was.

"Bout' time pink." The ridiculously familiar tone makes her eye twitch. She could practically hear the grin that her 'visitor' wore on their face.

"Grr…" Pink! Pink! Oh, how she fucking hated being called names that associates her to her hair. "The names Haruno Sakura, not pink." She growled with the most menacing glare she could conjure up at the moment.

The special Jonin grinned at the pinkette, _so she actually has a personality._ She thought, inwardly thanking Kami that the girl wasn't a doormat fan girl and at least was one with a bark, "A feisty one, eh?"

The rosette's eyes squint as she tried to put a name to the person in front of her, she blinked as a name came to mind. _Mitarashi Anko!_ The psychotic second proctor of the Chunin exams and Naruto like kunoichi! What the hell was she doing at her door at this ungodly hour!

"Ya kna, it's polite ta invite guests in." The obnoxious voice of her 'guest' interrupts her train of thought.

The pinkette blinked dumbly at the exam proctor before her manners kicked in, "shit! Sorry, c-come in." She replied as she opens the door wider for the older woman to enter.

And the special Jonin does exactly that, she stepped into the pinkette's two floor house with a wandering gaze, she chuckled as she returns her gaze to the younger girl. "Didn't take ya for one ta have such colourful language pink."

Sakura's eyes widen as she realises what she just said. _God dammit! Why do I keep doing that!_ She growled and glared at the ground as if it was the cause of all her problems before her eyes widened again, _Shit! I'm at home! If ka-san heard me say such things, she would probably rinse my mouth with soap again._ She winced at the memory. "Ka-san?" she called out hesitantly before sighing in relief at the lack of reply and as the conversation with her mother and father about going away for a business trip and returning in a few days tickled her memory. As the words of the special Jonin click in her mind, she turned back towards the annoying woman and spat. "Told you my name's not pink, Mitarashi."

Said woman blinked in surprise at the missing suffix, which people would usually add out of respect or fear. She chuckled again, _the girl just got interesting._

"Well, I like pink." Her lips split into a teasing grin. _So pinkie has anger issues._ The special Jonin mused as she noticed the younger girl's eye twitch and her hands clench into fists. _This is going to be one fun month!_

"Well, it's Sa-ku-ra. Now get it right!"

Anko smirked at the outburst, "pink."

Sakura's eye twitching got much worst as it twitched violently at the word; you could have easily mistaken it for some kind of spasm or something, "God dammit, you damned psycho. Have you got selective hearing or something?!" With the lack of parents she had no fear of being reprimanded for disrespecting a superior.

The pinkette smirked smugly as she noticed a slight twitch to the special Jonin's eyebrow and the smirk was effectively wiped off of the woman's face.

"Wanna say that again Pinkie!"

"What did you just call me, Psycho?"

"Ya heard me, ya pink haired goody two shoes, little doormat."

And for the next ten or so minutes the special Jonin and Genin were glaring and insulting one another from personality to hair colour to body figure.

The girl huffed as she heads towards the kitchen with her arms crossed, "want something to drink?" she offered as she remembers Anko is a guest and she should always treat a guest especially a superior with respect, _no matter how infuriating they are._

"Tea's cool."

Sakura nodded and prepares the tea, "what are you doing here anyway? I don't think you came here at this ungodly hour to insult me."

Anko blinked before she remembers her reason for even visiting the pink haired girl in the first place, "Oh yeah, I'm trainin' ya from now on."

At the reply Sakura dropped everything in hand and span around with her jaw half way to the ground and stared at the special Jonin.

"Ya kno, ya might want to close dat'. Ya don't want ta be catching flies or somethin'."

"You've got to be joking!"

"Of course, it was a joke pi-"

"No, I meant the training thing!"

"Hm… Nope, ya can even ask the Hokage if ya want, he put ya under my command last night."

Her mouth closes as her eyes squint at the older kunoichi in disbelief, _great I'm stuck with a psychotic and more infuriating Naruto_ , _I just got rid of that orange ramen obsessed idiot…._ For the first time in her life she was actually missing the blonde idiot and wished that he would sweep in and ask her out or even better to train with him and whoever he was with for the month.

The rosette blinked as her expression morphed into one of confusion, "how did Hokage-sama know I needed a teacher?"

"Ah! Sorry to disappoint pink, can't tell ya. It's a little secret only known to the higher ranks."

Sakura scoffed at the reply, "you mean the elderly."

"Oi, I'm not old!" Anko denied with a glare that would have made anyone under the intensity of the look drop dead on the spot but luckily Sakura developed an immunity to any death inducing glares, _thank you Sasuke_ , however even with an immunity to 'death by glare' it did send a train of shivers running down her spine.

Masking her fear, her lips pulled themselves into a teasing smile. "Could've fooled me." She sang with a high nasal tone. The smile on her lips widened as her blood rushed with glee at the fact she was getting a reaction out of the older ninja. But sensible and more mature side of her was wandering where all this smartass-ery and back chat was coming from. She'll have to deal with it later, teasing Mitarashi Anko was fun. _No wonder why Sasuke likes to wind up Naruto so much._

Anko scowled and crossed her arms like a sulking child, being on the teasing end was not fun! She couldn't remember the last time she got teased by someone, everyone was too scared or disliked her to even tease her except Ibiki but the two mentally deranged shinobi have bantered with one another ever since they started working with each other. And yet this Genin in front of her that's supposed to be her student was talking back to her and teasing her!

Sakura giggled as the kettle audibly signalled that it was done and turns around to finish the preparation for the tea, "it's that stupid glass ball on his desk, isn't it?"

"Smart one Pink,"

Sakura glared at the boiling kettle at the use of the moniker, "it's not that hard to put two and two together."

"Ya wouldn't believe how long it takes some people to figure that out."

"Hm, maybe you're right, I know that Naruto for the life of him wouldn't have figured it out."

"Loud mouth Uzumaki?" Anko chuckled, "The kid is unbelievably dense for a shinobi."

"Like you can call him loud mouth," Sakura mumbled.

"Oi, Ya say something?" The older Kunoichi growled.

"Nothing at all," Sakura replied in a sing song voice.

Anko scowled, "ya away from scarecrow for one day and you're already slacking."

Sakura scowled before a confused expression paints its way onto her face, she giggled as her mind connects the dots, "you call Kakashi-sensei scarecrow?"

"Nope, broom head too."

Sakura giggled again, _the names are certainly fitting._ Her scowl returns, "I wasn't slacking, I overslept which wasn't intentional and I wouldn't have known what on earth I was going to do today."

"Well, now ya do."


	4. Chapter 4

Anko blinked in disbelief at the sweaty and panting girl that lay on the ground spread like an eagle. She could hardly believe that this was the same girl that she saw in the preliminary round last week. Though the kid didn't get a hit on her, she could see that her Tai jutsu and speed have improved tremendously, it was even harder for her to believe that this girl only started proper training a week ago. From the way the girl moved like she had a tonne of bricks tied to her limbs, she guessed that broom-head gave her a set of weights. _Gee I wonder where he got the idea from._ She smirked at the thought of telling Konoha's Green Beast that his 'eternal rival' stole one of his training methods.

Hearing a groan, she turned back to her student to see her try to lift herself up. Those weights must weigh fuck loads… Oh! How she couldn't wait to rip'em off, and if she remembered correctly the girl was already quite quick on her toes. A grin splits across her face as excitement bubbled in the pit of her stomach. _Just wait 'til the end of the month._

"So, how did I do Anko-sensei?" The rosette asked, breathing much calmer now.

The special Jonin inwardly grinned at being called sensei; "Hmm, pretty shabby for a Genin," At the statement Sakura's face scrunches into a scowl, "now get up."

"What! Don't I get a break or something?!"

"Nope, ya got loads of trainin' to catch up on." Sakura's scowl deepens, "plus yar' chakra reserves stink. Believe me pink; when I say they stink, they stink real' bad. I think I've met dogs with better reserves than ya." Even with a week of intense training, the girl's reserves were only that of a rookie Genin straight out of the academy.

Sakura growled in frustration, silently cursing herself for not taking training seriously before, "so what do I do?"

Anko grinned with a sadistic glint in her eyes, "there's three ways to increase chakra reserves; meditating and over exerting yourself physically. So for now yar' gonna run laps."

"Eh?! Laps! You've got to be fucking kidding me! What's that going to do? And I thought you said there's three ways?" The Genin screeched, eyes literally popping out at the command.

"Yeah but don't worry bout' that for now, we ain't at that stage yet. Anyways, laps increase speed, stamina and reserves. You're basically killing three birds with one stone… What ya really want ta' be stuck with a Chibi Chidori for the rest of yar' life?"

Sakura glared half-heartedly at the special Jonin as she was too focused on getting up with her jelly like limbs, "alright." She huffed and starts to make her way to the exit of the training ground when Anko grabbed her wrist which caused her to scowl at the offending hand, "what now?!"

"Has Broom Head taught ya how to walk on water?"

The rosette shook her head, "he only taught us the tree climbing exercise."

"Hmm, what has that idiot Hatake taught ya?" The purple headed Jonin asked with a raised brow.

"Before the Chunin exams he focused on team building exercises and then taught us in the Land of Waves tree climbing, after our encounter with Zabuza. Last week he helped me in speed, tai jutsu and the Chidori." As Sakura spoke, she realised just how flimsy of a teacher Kakashi actually was.

Anko scowled, "Fuckin' scarecrow. What the fuck was he thinkin'?!" she knew the bastard was lazy but not this lazy that he only taught his team a single exercise. It was a miracle the brats got as far as they did within the exam. With a shake of the head, she turns back to her students and grinned – _bout' time to see whether her chakra control is as good as that straw brained idiot says it is._ "Try it on the lake," she gestured in the direction of the small batch of water in the training ground. "And then yar' gonna do ya laps."

Sakura groaned at the thought of laps as she made her way to the edge of the lake. Raising her hands to form the ram seal, she channelled the amount of chakra she used for the tree climbing exercise to the bottom of her feet and put her right foot on the surface. Her lips dipped downwards as her foot sank halfway, brows furrowing in concentration before nodding to herself as she noticed the ripples. _I see the water doesn't have a sturdy structure like a tree, so the amount of chakra I need to use has to be balanced but I need to be able to change the frequency since its molecules are able to move around._ Taking a deep breath she steadied her chakra and applied her other foot before moving the half soaked foot. Seeing her feet stating on the surface she takes hesitant steps. After about half a dozen of baby steps, her lips split into a grin and then begins to sprint across the surface.

 _Smart girl…_ Anko nodded in approval and smirked, slightly impressed. The brat was the only person she knew that was able to get the water walking technique down on their first try. Eyes widening then blinking a few times, she squints, eyes narrowing at her new student's feet. They weren't leaving the surface! She's already skating! The smirk stretched further across her face – _the girl just might have what it takes to surpass Tsunade._

"Good, now ten laps around the village and come find me afterwards."

"WHAT!" But the pinkette's shout went unheard as the Jonin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

A.B.I.D

The rosette collapsed against the closest wall, breathing heavily and red faced. Her eyes squint in concentration as she tries to remember what she did something to deserve such torture. _Damn it! Why did Hokage-sama have to assign me to a Psychotic trainer? And one that trumped Kakashi-sensei in sadism!_

Sakura growled in annoyance, _great now I have to find the blasted monster woman! But where to start_? She inwardly thanked Kakashi-sensei as an idea came to mind. She closed her eyes and spreads out her chakra as far as she could in an attempt to look for her new instructor. _Bingo!_ Her face scrunched into a scowl - she was off doing laps while her teacher was having a snack! _Oh wells, at least I can get some food,_ she thought as she dragged herself of the wall and towards the Dango shop.

A.B.I.D

Feeling a familiar chakra signature the special Jonin grins and looks to the entrance. _She's done already? She did better than I thought._ "So, ya found me."

Sakura glared at the special Jonin and plops herself down on to a stool in front of the 'monster woman'.

"Took ya long enough," Anko said as she took a bite out of one of her dango.

"Well, I would've finished much quicker if a certain monster woman let me have a break or some food!" The rosette snapped at her instructor with another glare.

"Oi! What ya call me brat?!" Anko replied with one of her own glares.

"You fuckin' heard me!" Sakura growled, after the torture she was put through, she was in no mood for formality.

"Pink!" Seeing her new student twitch caused the special Jonin to smirk.

Sakura opened her mouth to retort but was interrupted, "hello, Sakura-chan. Nice to see you back again."

Turning her gaze from the special Jonin to the shop keeper, she grinned. "Hello, Isshin-san!"

Anko blinked in confusion, "eh? Ya' know each other?"

"Ah! Of course, Sakura-chan here is one of my best customers. Her love for dango almost rivals yours."

Anko raised a brow, "really now?" Her student was getting more and more interesting by the minute. She figured that since she was a fan girl, she would be worried about her figure and all that bull shit but then again the pinkette was different from what she's read of her.

Isshin nodded enthusiastically with a grin before turning to the younger girl, "the usual?"

Sakura nodded back with a smile, feeling eyes on her she turns back to her teacher. "What?"

"Didn't know ya like dango."

"You never asked." The rosette replied with a shrug.

"Alright, meet me at the training ground at sunrise. Yar' better not have picked up Broom Head's bad habits, ya kno."

"Sunrise got it." The rosette replied with a nod as her Dango arrives. As Sakura watched her new teacher disappear with a stereo-typical 'POOF' she couldn't help but smile as she took a bite out of her Dango. Her stomach soared with excitement at the thought of finally having someone to give their full attention to her. And with that, she quickly finished off her Dango so she could go home, get showered and try some meditating before getting a good night's rest that she was sure she would need. Walking up to the counter with her tray and cup in hand, the girl sets the cutlery on the counter and pulls out the amount of money needed for her food, "here you are Isshin-san." she turned to leave but stopped when she hears her favourite shop keeper calling her name.

"Hmm?" she looked at him over her shoulder.

"Anko-san hasn't paid yet." He states with a sympathetic smile.

The pinkette blinked once, twice and three times before growling, "DAMMIT ANKO!"

A.B.I.D

Sakura woke up with a familiar aching feeling though much worse than with Kakashi. She was thankful that she had a week's training with him otherwise she was sure that her muscles would hurt way more than they did at the moment. She groaned as she makes her way towards the bathroom. Every morning has been like this, she would wake up groaning, aching and sore all over but then again the aches in her joints made her feel proud of herself. It's been a long time since she felt this way about herself, before she prided herself on her intelligence but after becoming a Genin and seeing the outside world, she realised that knowledge and facts on history and Jutsu was nothing if she didn't have the Chakra or body to do it. As she rubbed body lotion on her arms, she could feel the muscle building within them, she grinned at the difference. Before the week and a half of training her arms were like jelly, but now they were much harder and firmer, you could physically see them being stronger than they used to be. She was proud of her improvement; though not enough to hit Anko she was at least fast enough to dodge most of the crazy kunoichi's weapons.

On the second day of training the psychotic woman decided on another sadistic training exercise where she would throw pointy weapons at her to help her with her evasion and awareness. She shuddered as she remembered the first time she tried the exercise, she ended up with more cuts and scratches than she could remember. After day two of torture with Anko, there seemed to be an unwritten training schedule with breaks and lunch which Sakura was thankful for, though during the lunch break she made sure to get out of the training ground or whatever area they were in before she could get roped into buying the special Jonin food again. Which she still needed to get payback for, a shiver runs down her spine as she remembers the morning of the second day when she tried to get payback by trying to kick Anko's ass in the morning spar but instead got her ass handed to herself. _Those spars hurt and worse they happen twice a day._ The unwritten training schedule included two spars a day, one at the beginning of the session and another at the end, which were the ones, she's most afraid of due to her body being too exhausted from the earlier training exercises.

As she rubbed body lotion on her legs, a smile made its way onto her lips as her hands moved over the muscles in her calves and thighs. She was definitely making an improvement and Anko must think so since she increased her laps to fifteen on the fourth day. She also increased her sit ups and push ups which Anko made her start doing on the second day, before she only had to do two hundred but now she has to do five hundred.

Running her hands through her hair, she frowned at the texture of the strands. They were dry and clearly un-kept; thanks to the training sessions she had to wash her hair more than usual, _when Anko-sensei gives me some time off or something I need to go get some new conditioner._ At least she hoped that her teacher would give her some time off but then again the past four days with the monster woman showed her that she was definitely missing a few screws and added points to her question on whether the woman should ever be near children at all.

Oh wells, what could she do? After all, the woman did take time out of her duties to train her. Even if the training was boring as hell, she liked the physical improvements but come on couldn't she be improving her Chidori or something! She sighed; _I guess beggars can't be choosers…._ She thought as she made her way out of the bathroom to get ready for another day of torture…

"Alright, Sakura-chan ya did well this time. I think it's time for something a bit more difficult." Anko said with a grin, moving her hand in a 'follow me' motion as she sped off. Sakura groaned as she climbs to her feet and takes off in the direction her teacher did, _I need to ask Anko-sensei to teach me how to Shunshin!_

A.B.I.D

The rosette raised a brow at her teacher, "so what do I do?"

The psychotic kunoichi grinned; her eyes sparkled with a sadistic glint. "This is a training course."

"You don't say." Sakura retorted with a roll of her eyes.

Anko smacks the younger girl around the head, "Shut up for a moment will ya! As I was sayin' this is a training course," her grin stretched even wider, "A training course for rookie ANBUs and Jonin training to be ANBU."

Sakura gapped at her teacher, "and how in hell do you expect me to do that!"

"Eh? Ya'll be fine, yar evasion, speed and awareness has increased a lot." Anko waved her hand as if to say 'don't worry about it'.

The rosette bit her bottom lip in uncertainty, "you sure?"

The purple headed Jonin puts a comforting hand on her student's shoulder, "trust me. Yar' gonna be fine and Ima be ere' if ya need me." Looking up into her instructor's eyes, she saw the confidence in them which seemed to give her the boost she needed. She nods and heads to the start of the course.

The first time she went through the course, she only got to about a fifth of the way before Anko had to rescue her which she was thankful for otherwise she would have been gutted by a flying kunai. As the day went on, with each try on the training course, she got a little further from the point of where she would get saved. However after their lunch break, her performance seemed to drop. When she tried after the lunch break, she didn't even make it past the first obstacle before she had to get saved.

"Oi, yar okay Sakura-chan?" Anko asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, I guess." Sakura replied, rubbing at her eyes with fisted hands.

The special Jonin frowned at her student, "yar' games been kinda off since we got back."

"Yeah, I felt kind of weird at lunch, there's something wrong with my eyes I think."

Anko's brows furrowed in concern, "why ya say that?"

"They've been irritating me ever since I got the curse mark." Realising what she said, her eyes widen as she looks up. And to her surprise she was met with soft brown eyes. The look didn't look right on the psychotic kunoichi's face that she's came to know. She groaned as she rubs her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose, feeling the signs of a migraine.

Anko's eyes narrow at the girl's left shoulder, "ya okay, Sakura-chan? Maybe we should go to the hospital."

"Eh? Don't worry about it; I just think I need a goodnight sleep."

Anko frowned, "yar' sure?"

The pinkette nodded.

The special Jonin sighed and picks up her student bridal style.

Feeling herself get lifted off the ground, she looks up at her teacher. "H-hey what are you doing!"

"Aint it obvious, I'm taking ya home."

The pinkette looks into her instructor's eyes before looking away with a blush.

"Aw, is little Sakura-chan embarrassed." The exam proctor teased.

"Shut up," she mumbled back before wincing from the pain of her headache and snuggling into the special Jonin's shirt which caused Anko to raise a brow before smiling a little as she skipped across the rooftops.

A.B.I.D

"So yar' feeling better Sakura-chan?"

"My headache's gone but my eyes are still irritating me."

"Ya wanna go to a medic Nin after the spar."

"Yeah, I guess."

Like always Anko charged at Sakura first, her fist aiming for the Genin's face. Sakura blocks the punch and aims her own which was also blocked. They exchange a few punches and kicks at one another before Anko ducks down which makes Sakura's punch miss and spins her leg in an attempt to trip her student. The pinkette however saw it coming and back flipped. Anko's brow furrow, _when did Sakura get this good?_ She should have gotten at least three hits by now. She didn't have time to think about her student's sudden improvement as a barrage of speeding punches and kicks came at her. Surprised at the sudden outburst of speed, Anko Shunshins behind the pinkette and aims a punch at her head which she blocks with her arm and tries a roundhouse kick. Anko body flickers again but this time around the rosette in a circle whilst throwing multiple weapons. Sakura was forced to dodge, weave and deflect the senbons, kunais and shurikens coming at her.

Anko blinked seeing that none of her weapons had hit the pinkette, once again the question of her student's sudden improvement popped into her head. She was always able to get a few hits on the rosette. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a fist coming at her, which she caught just in time. Her eyes widen as her eyes meet with her students.

"What?" Sakura asked with her head tilted to the side slightly like a confused puppy.

Anko's eyes narrow at the pinkette in front of her, she couldn't feel any dark chakra coming from her, then how?

The rosette scowled as she watched her teacher move around her like she was some kind of experiment. "Anko-sensei, what the hell are you doing? And why are you moving around so slow!"

Anko blinked at her student, "what do you mean I'm moving slow?"

"It's like your moving around in slow motion. I have no idea what happened but after you started throwing weapons at me, it's like the whole world slowed down."

The special Jonin's chocolate eyes narrow as she grabs the younger girl's chin and tilts her head slightly. "Are ya sane?"

"W-what?! Of course, I'm mother fucking sane! And like you should be asking me that!" The pinkette screeched, pulling herself out of the special Jonin's grip.

Grabbing a kunai, Anko holds it out to the younger girl, "here, look at your eyes."

Sakura's brows furrow but she takes the kunai and does as she is told, her eyes widen at what she saw. Her eyes were no longer green but a sickly yellowy-green, much like the colour of Orochimaru's. Like the snake Sannin, the pupils are stretched vertically. However surrounding the outstretch pupil is two rings and a comma like the tomoe of a Sharigan or one of the markings on her neck. A thin line also outlined the comma. Her left eye was slightly different; though the colour and design was the same it had an extra 'comma' and two diagonal bars on the second ring of her eye.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" the rosette yelled out, her eyes wide in shock and horror.

"Does the curse seal hurt?" her teacher asked seriously.

The rosette shakes her head, "I don't think it's active at the moment. If it were, wouldn't I be covered in the marks and wreaking havoc?"

"True, come on lets go see the Hokage." The special Jonin said, doing a quick set of hand signs to cover up the pinkette's eyes and then taking the younger girl's hand, she leads her to the Hokage tower.

As the two kunoichi's leap from rooftop to rooftop, the older one of the two kept sneaking glances at the younger girl. She was completely baffled by what happened, when she got the curse seal that didn't happen unless she accidently lost control but her eyes never got the tomoe shapes or given any ability to slow down motion. Anko's brows furrow in confusion and frustration, sure she liked surprising and confusing others but she did not like it when it happened to her, especially when Orochimaru was involved.

A.

"Mitarashi-sama, you cannot go in there!" the assistant screeched, her face turned a dark shade of red as the special Jonin continued to ignore her and drag the pinkette towards the Hokage's office. "Mita-" the poor assistant's protest went unheard as the purple headed Kunoichi threw open the doors of the Hokage's office with an audible slam causing the pinkette and assistant jump.

The leader of the village looks up from his work to see Anko and her new student Sakura. He raised an brow as the older one of the two stomped into his office with a frustrated scowl whilst Sakura followed unwillingly - being dragged by her hand like a disobedient child. He waved a hand at his assistant signalling her that it was ok and she could leave. Clearing his throat, "what is the meaning of this Anko?"

"I apologise for the intrusion Hokage-sama, however there have been a turn of events whilst Sakura and I were training." She bowed her head apologetically.

Sakura was surprised to hear her teacher act so respectful and well spoken. _Maybe she's not so much like Naruto after all…._

His eyebrow twitched an inch higher, "and that would be?"

Before continuing Anko's hand weaved through a set of hand signs. "Take a look at her eyes Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen sat up straighter, he knew this must be serious if one of his best interrogators put up an eavesdropping prevention genjutsu. Signalling for the younger girl to walk around the table and towards him. She does as she is told and watched as the leader of the village's eyes widen in shock once he undid the genjutsu over her eyes.

"The curse mark is not active."

The Hokage's eyes narrow in confusion, he couldn't feel any malicious chakra coming from the younger girl then what and how? "Sakura-chan, do you know what happened." He asks in his famous grandfatherly tone.

The younger girl shook her head, "unfortunately I don't Hokage-sama."

He expected as much. "Has there been a problem with your sight?"

She shook her head again, "no my sight has been the same, if not better."

Hiruzen's blinked in surprise, "what do you mean?"

"After I got the curse mark, it seems like my senses have been enhanced; my smell, hearing and taste have gotten better. My sight especially as I am able to see clearly in the dark now. I think my awareness as well, during training with Kakashi-sensei I had more evasiveness and agility that I know I didn't have before. But not it's like everything is moving in slow motion and I think I can see a little bit of chakra."

"Why didn't ya tell me Sakura-chan?" Anko barked, slightly angry at not knowing this.

The younger girl looked down at the ground and shrugged.

"Now, now Anko calm down. So you say your senses have been enhanced." The pinkette gave another nod in confirmation. "Rooster."

An ANBU appeared seemed to walk out of the wall. _No, it's genjutsu!_

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" The ANBU bowed.

"Rooster, I want you to check Sakura-chan's chakra flow."

Sakura blinked in confusion at the command, her eyes widened as chakra was focused into the ANBUs eyes. There was only one clan left in Konoha with a doujutsu after the masscare of the Uchiha clan. _So he's a Hyuga._

"Chakra is being focused at her eyes. If I may, can I ask Sakura-san something." With a nod from his leader he continued, "Your eyes widened in the process of my technique which leads to my question; are you able to see chakra?"

"Yes, I was able to see you focus chakra into your eyes." The girl in question replied.

"Just as I thought," the Hokage replied thoughtfully with a stroke of his beard.

"Hokage-sama, what's going on with my eyes?" Sakura asked with a worried frown.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan it is nothing you need to be concerned about at the moment. All I want you to do is concentrate on drawing the Chakra away from your eyes."

Said girl's face scrunched into an expression of confusion – a person would only draw chakra from their eyes if they possessed a doujutsu. _What the fuck was going on?!_ Despite her thought, she does she is told and shuts her eyes, concentrating on her chakra flow.

"Find the area that has the most chakra," The Rooster masked ANBU coached. Seeing a nod from the younger girl the ANBU continued, "No slowly withdraw the chakra. Imagine you are pulling at a ball of thread. This will make things easier and ensure no damage is done to your eyes."

Opening her eyes as she felt the chakra slowly seep away.

At the sight of the familiar set of green eyes looking at him, Hiruzen smiled. "Much better?"

Sakura blinked a few times before nodding – everything was back to normal. "Thank you, ANBU-san."

"You're welcome." He replied

It seemed that Anko had enough with sitting on the side lines in silence, "Hokage-sama, I still don't understand what happened?" her confused expression was mirrored by Sakura.

"If my suspicions are correct, Sakura-chan seems to be developing a doujutsu." Both Kunoichi's eyes widened in shock.

"Because of the curse seal? That never happened with me." Sakura's head turned at the last part as she watched her teacher's gaze focus on the ground. Knowing she wasn't meant to hear that part, she made a mental note to ask her teacher later.

"Rooster, please escort Sakura-chan to the hospital for a full examination as I have some things to discuss with Anko."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." The masked nin turned to the younger girl and held out his hand which she takes with a frown.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan ima be right ere' when ya get back." Anko reassured with a grin which in result caused said girl to smile back.

"Rooster, make sure whoever does the examination does not breath a word." He ordered before the genin and ANBU walked out the door. With a nod the ANBU closed the door.

"So Anko, how has Sakura-chan's training been coming along? The Hokage asked as he leans back into his chair.

"She has improved a lot sir, are you sure she only started training at the beginning of this month? At the question the Hokage nods, "well she's definitely a quick study. The past few days I've been working on her stamina, reserves and awareness. Though from the beginning her awareness was way more developed than usual for a genin, if what she said about her abilities being enhanced is true then that would explain it. However, I do not believe that they were the only side effects of her curse seal."

Hiruzen raised a brow, "really?"

Anko nods, "her skills have grown in leaps. I have never seen or heard of someone growing so quickly. Her chakra reserves have almost doubled over the past week she's been with me and from what I have observed she is quite flexible. Sakura-chan has also somehow gotten healing abilities. During sessions she would get bruises, scrapes and cuts but within a couple hours they would be gone as if they were never there. Though the biggest change I've seen is instinct."

"Explain." It's been a long time since he's seen Anko lost for words.

"Her instinct is almost animalistic, we humans question whether the instinct is correct or not but with Sakura-chan she just follows it. I know for a fact she can't see my attacks – at least not until this morning, but she seems to know when they are coming…. Not that she could dodge or block them all." She finished with an air of smugness.

"So, the curse seal has also been enhancing her other attributes?" it was more of a statement that a question, "almost like a snake" he mumbled to himself, though loud enough for the special jonin to hear. "With the progress she is making, how far do you think she'll go?"

At the question the special Jonin smirked, "I think Sakura-chan could surpass Tsunade."

The Hokage blinked before he smiling, "Really?"

Anko nods, "she has a lot of potential and her chakra control is frightening. Ya kno' she got the water walking exercise down on her first go and started skating after a few steps. And now with a doujutsu, that just so happens to slow things down, she can finally use the Chidori to its full potential. Sakura-chan's gonna be unstoppable." A grin stretched across her face.

Hiruzen raised a surprised eye brow; _the girl must have extremely high chakra control._ Anko also had a point, without the Sharigan using the Chidori was going to be incredibly difficult as the jutsu requires the user to move at such speeds that they cannot see around them. During the times he watched Kakashi's training session – he was perplexed to why Kakashi would teach such a technique to the young girl. Sure it was a better weapon that the curse seal but as the girl didn't have the Sharigan it would have always been incomplete but now with this new developing doujutsu. It just may give the pinkette the edge to using it to its full potential.

"But that's not the icing on top of the cake." Anko's grin widened. "Sakura-chan unconsciously channels chakra into her taijutsu. Though not ta Tsunade's level, with a little practise she could get there."

The Hokage barely schooled his expression of surprise. To be able to do Tsunade's style took perfect or near perfect chakra control and the girl does it unconsciously! Anko may be right in the assumption that the pinkette may surpass his previous student. He frowned slightly, could he really have over looked a prodigy due to her background and lack of ambition? "The girl is turning out to be quite the prodigy."

Anko nods in agreement, "For the first four days, I was training her in stamina, evasion and agility. Yesterday, I decided to take her to the Jonin/Rookie ANBU training course. On her first try she got ta about a fifth of the training course before I had to intervene. By lunch she could make it ta bout a quarter of the way."

Hiruzen blinks again; the girl was full of surprises wasn't she? To be able to do a quarter of an ANBU training course in a few hours, with less than two weeks of proper training was astounding. "I am sensing a 'but' here?"

"After our lunch break yesterday, she went ta' do the ANBU course again but didn't get past the first obstacle before I had ta step in. She mentioned her eyes were irritating her more than usual and that she had a migraine, so I allowed for her to return home early. When we met again at dawn and started our normal regime with a morning spar, her performance…. Her speed somehow increased and she was able to block and dodge everything I threw at her – taijutsu and weapons included."

"And that's how you found out about the doujutsu, correct?" Anko nods in reply, "Hmm, it seems the curse mark somehow has given her some positive enhancements. Though how long it will last is anyone's guess."

"But the thing I don't get is why that happened. I've seen her mark, it is exactly the same as mine and from what I heard of the reports from her teammate it was given in the same process."

Hiruzen hummed to himself as he stroked his beard. "Sakura-chan has most definitely reacted differently to the curse seal than you did. From what we know of the seal it is - as Jiriya put it a more bastardized version of sage mode. Sage mode is incredibly difficult to master, some see the art as near impossible due to many failures. The side effects of learning senjutsu is that the trainee may turn into the animal during process of the training. This maybe the reason to Sakura-chan's enhancements."

Anko hummed at the explanation, "That means Sakura-chan was somehow able ta absorb the senjutsu within the seal?

"Yes, though this is just hunch. How she did it? I haven't a clue. I doubt Sakura-chan will have any idea. If she really did absorb the senjutsu within the seal, she may be capable of learning senjutsu…"

"Why Sakura-chan's eyes turned snake like I can understand but why does the design look like the Sharigan?"

Thinking back to the young genin's developing doujutsu he remembered seeing a tomoes in her eyes… "I cannot be sure to why as this has never happened before. But if I am to assume it would be due to the seal not only having senjutsu but also Orochimaru's chakra. As the Heaven curse seal was designed in the form of a Sharigan eye and when Orochimaru was in the process of giving the curse seal he was thinking about Sasuke-kun which then transferred his chakra and desires to Sakura-chan, which maybe the explanation to why it constructed itself to look like a sharigan."

Anko nods at the explanation as it actually makes sense.

"I want you to begin training her in the doujutsu and find out everything you can about it."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage smirked, dropping his serious tone, "I see you've grown fond of Sakura-chan."

Anko snorted, her body relaxing a little, "I dunno what yar' on about."

The Hokage shook his head. _Sakura could do her good._ "Anko, how would you like to keep teaching Sakura after the Chunin exams? I will officially move her to your command."

Anko blinked at the offer; she knows she's grown fond of the little pink haired brat. And no matter how much she denied it, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when she thought of not teaching her after the exams. Before she could school her expression, her lips split into a face splitting grin, "Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way."

The Hokage smiled, hearing a knock he calls out "Come in!"

"Hokage-sama," Sakura and the rooster masked ANBU greet.

"Ya alright, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura smiles and nods as she walks to stand next to her instructor while the ANBU gives the Hokage the report from the hospital. As he read through it, he mumbled words such as incredible and unbelievable… "Hmm, this is certainly interesting. Well, it seems Konoha has a new Kekkei Genkai in its midst and you Sakura-chan are its only user..."

Sakura blinks, "eh, really?"

The Hokage smiles his famous grandfatherly smile, "yes it seems that there has been a development in your cells where your abilities have been permanently enhanced."

Anko almost gapped, she couldn't believe her ears. The curse mark from Orochimaru, which was given to her and her student was actually doing something good for a change. Her eyes widen when a realisation hit her like a tonne of bricks. If Orochimaru ever found out about this, for sure he will try to take Sakura away. At the thought she glared at the ground, "Hokage-sama." Everyone turns their attention to the purple headed Kunoichi.

"Hm, yes what is it Anko?"

"I think it is best we keep this quiet."

"Yes, I agree with you. If Orochimaru gets word of this, I fear the worst. Sakura I want you to keep quiet about the enhancement of your abilities and only use the doujutsu in time of need." the pinkette nods, "this shall stay between us four understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Anko, The ANBU and Sakura chorused.

"Well, since this has been cleared up I believe the two of you can go back to training."

A.B.I.D

As Sakura and Anko left the Hokage's office, the assistant immediately shot a glare at Anko who countered with one of her own, which made the assistant back down and look away.

"What did you mean when you said 'that never happened to me'?" Sakura asked breaking the silence that loomed over them as they left the Hokage tower.

Anko sighed, silently cursing herself for her slip. "Don't worry about it Sakura-chan."

Sakura frowned and turns to her teacher, _why the hell do Jonin and special Jonin have to be so secretive?!_ It drove her bonkers. "From the sentence it sounds like you have the same mark as me."

Anko sighs again, knowing that her student wouldn't let the subject go though she was slightly pissed at the prying. She knew couldn't blame the girl for her curiosity after all, if it was the other way around, she for sure would have done anything she could to find out, "yar' really wanna kno?"

Sakura nods.

The purple headed special Jonin swallowed, slightly afraid of what might happen once she told the pinkette her tale. After all her student was also a victim of her ex-sensei, "I was Orochimaru's apprentice when I was younger," she looks at the pinkette from the corner of her eye and takes another deep breath at seeing the blank look on the younger girl's face. "He betrayed me when I was around your age, he took me out of Konoha," she watched as her student's eyes widen slightly, "yeah I was a missing nin for a while but afterwards I finally saw his true colours." Her hands clench into fists at her sides, "he was nothing but an evil bastard and then he gave me this mark," she pulled down the collar of her trench coat to show the pinkette the mark on her neck, "and abandoned me on some island. Later I was found by ANBU and well here I am." Anko frowned at the lack of reaction she was getting from the younger girl, "ya kno' I understand if ya don't want me ta' train ya anymore. I can tell Hokage-sama to move ya to someone else's command." She said as she looked away.

For the rest of the walk Sakura's hands were fisted in her jacket pockets as she thought over her teacher's tale and how the snake bastard betrayed her and left her for dead with the same blasted mark on her neck that she had. She looks up at her instructor to see her with her head down and shoulders slumped, she frowned as she remembers the tone the older Kunoichi spoke in when she asked her whether she wanted to be moved to someone else's command. It was soft, weak and filled with sorrow. Her stomach twisted at the thought of her walking away from Anko, yeah sure the woman was a bit on the mentally deranged side and was a sadist but she could see that the older Kunoichi cared for her. Not that she would ever admit it out loud but she's grown fond of Anko. Like Naruto, the Dango loving woman grew on her like fungus and somewhere along the past few days, she became someone she wanted to protect and cherish. With her choice decided, she grinned at the special Jonin and tugs at her sleeve.

Anko raised her head to look at her student or ex-student; she blinks in confusion at the grin on her face.

"So, what are you going to teach me next Anko-sensei?"

The special Jonin's eyes widen in shock as her student called her sensei. Her student didn't care about her betrayal to Konoha or that she was Orochimaru's apprentice – the same man who gave her the stupid curse seal. She actually wanted her to carry on training her! She looks into the younger girl's emerald eyes, they were not filled with pity, loathing, disgust, despair or hate that had been directed at her by the older generations that know of her betrayal but genuine care and fondness; beneath the emotions she could see the hidden words 'I'm never leaving you.' She smiled at the pinkette, "come on brat, ya still have ta finish the training course. Race ya there!" She said as she sped off in the direction of the training ground, she couldn't believe that there was someone else besides Ibiki, Kurenai and the Hokage that accepted her especially Sakura, another victim of the bastard's actions.

A/N: Phew! This chapter was a few words from seven thousand... I revised quite a bit of this chapter especially the scene with the Hokage - previously I wrote him without much authority I hope I have fixed that this time around and I hope I have given more of an explanation on how Sakura's Doujutsu was 'created'. Do not worry her will not be exactly like the Sharigan.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hurry up Sakura-chan! Yar' almost there!" Anko echoed across the training ground as her student of almost three weeks returns over the ANBU course. From her student's academy records, she would never have thought the girl would grow so much with just two and a half weeks of proper training. She felt a swell of pride at the thought of Sakura's development. The pinkette was able to complete the course with the use of her doujutsu on Tuesday – after Sakura's doujutsu manifested she's been training the girl with it and found that the Hokage's theory to be proven corrected. It has shown a few characteristics similar to the Sharigan such as slowing down movement and the ability to see chakra, however it hasn't shown the ability of predicting movements or copying jutsu, Anko believed this may develop in time and as the girl's mastery increases. Though able to complete the course with the use of her doujutsu, Sakura had yet to complete it without it but from the looks of how things were going, today maybe the day. Excitement bubbled inside her; the girl's chakra has almost quadrupled from its initial amount, a little more and she may be able to teach her some ninjutsu.

Growling in annoyance, the pinkette just managed to do a pivoted jump through a flying set of kunai. She winced as two of the sharp blades grazed her right side, with an audible thump she landed on a wooden log and quickly jumps and flips in mid-air to avoid the dozen shuriken flying in her direction. Releasing a breath, she hopped from log to log as you would with stepping stones. _Almost there!_ Hearing the split of air as another barrage of weapons come flying once again in her direction, she picked up her pace, jumping onto the surface of the lake and sprinting across as fast as she could. Feeling another disturbance in the air, by instinct she jumped and does another twist in mid-air and lands back at the start of the course with a tuck and roll. The final movement caused her to land in an awkward and unbalanced position, her breathing hard and coming out in pants. Lips stretching into a grin as she falls onto her back – her 'victory' finally hitting her.

"About time!"

"Oh, shut it! I finished it didn't I!" Sakura retorts with a half-hearted glare, she knew Anko didn't mean the comment in a bad way, she could hear the undertone of pride in her voice.

"Ya did well today Sakura-chan," she sticks out her hand for the younger girl, who accepts it with a grateful smile as she was pulled onto her feet, "come on, I'll treat ya ta some dango."

Sakura blinked at the 'reward' in surprise before her eyes narrow in suspicion, "are you sure, you're paying this time?"

Anko grinned sheepishly, "of course Sakura-chan. I promise my treat."

Sakura huffed, "it better be."

"But first, let's go get yar wounds checked out."

The Genin looked down and winced, her arms and legs were covered in grazes, scratches and cuts. She had no doubt that she also had multiple bruises all over her body. The worst of her wounds were the two gashes on her side; they were deep and long, even the smallest of movements hurt like hell. _Tomorrow morning is gonna be a bitch._ Even with her new found regenerative abilities which made her heal much quicker than normal – it however did not change the aftermath of her training sessions with the snake mistress, when she woke up the next day her body would feel as if it got a repeated beating by a sledge hammer. "Let's go."

And with that the special Jonin draped an arm over the younger girl's shoulder and dragged her out of the training ground.

A.B.I.D

Sakura frowned as she rubbed the area that previously had two deep wounds: her clothes were battered, ripped and covered with dirt and blood – day's old and fresh blood. It sent a shiver of disgust down her spine at that thought. She looked and felt like when she returned from the Chunin Exams. _And I just brought this! First my hair now my clothes! Grr….. Now I remember what I hate about training! What a waste of money!_ The last thought was kind of true as she did spurge a little on her current outfit, it pissed her off that she had to waste even more money on another and she was almost broke! _No thanks to Naruto and Sasuke._ Due to her two idiotic teammates and their completive nature they kept failing D-rank missions, so they didn't get paid. She inwardly cursed her teammates.

Her inward grumbling was cut short as hushed whispers caught her ears. Fists clenching at her sides, she glowers at the whispers with her most menacing glare – one she learnt from Anko. It had the desired effect, sending the bitching back chatters away with their tails between their legs.

After hearing about Anko's past and finding out her connection to Orochimaru, she started to see the bigger picture and notice little details about both her teacher and the villagers. Such as the times when her wild teacher would belittle her an make comments about 'how shabby she was' or 'need to hurry her fucking ass up' when doing an exercise, this was actually Anko being encouraging and supportive in her own wacky way. She also noticed that Anko's grins hardly reached her eyes - her grins, smirks and insanity were like a shield, another person she 'wears' around to protect herself against the villager's hate. It was a way to not let the close minded bastards of Konoha get to her.

So she acted assertive, psychotic, sadistic and a bad ass - though she suspected that the 'psychotic-ism and sadism' is something she inherited from Orochimaru and she could only hope that she doesn't get that 'charm' but unfortunately the week she spent with Kakashi-sensei showed that the saying 'like teacher, like student' is inevitable - though Sasuke seems to be immune to 'Kakashi-ism', she made a mental note to remind herself to ask him of his immunity. And fortunately she lost her habits of being late and lame excuses but the main reason for the loss of the unwanted habits were due to her always being on time or early to a training session with Anko, she shudders as she remembers the time she was late. Anko broke into her house, how she did it without being detected she still doesn't know – _shows that I still need to be more aware of my surroundings_ \- and literally tipped her bed upside down and threw her into the shower where she proceeded to strip her… another shudder, she shook her head to dismiss the memory, it was best it stayed forgotten. But she certainly doesn't want a repeat of that incident and made sure to never make Anko wait ever again.

Another trail of whispers interrupts her thoughts and on autopilot, she fires back with another glare. Like the quirks of her teacher, she also noticed her interaction with others and the rude whispers behind her instructor's back when she passed by. It annoyed her to no end but every time she tried to make a vocal come back, Anko would give her a look or a tap on the head signalling her to ignore them. The hate towards her teacher was completely stupid and unnecessary, so what if Anko left Konoha once; she was only doing what every student does, following their teacher, it's not like she stayed faithfully loyal to the snake bastard and proceeded to do his dirty deeds. Her face scrunches into an angry scowl at her next thought; _they are directing their hate at Anko because she is the only one beside the Hokage and his teammates who have a connection to him._ _Grr…. Bastards are using her as a scapegoat!_

"Ya okay Sakura-chan?"

Sakura blinked as she gets pulled out of her thoughts, "yeah, why do you ask?"

"Ya were scowling and glaring at things like ya wanted them to spontaneously combust," the special Jonin answered with a smirk.

"I was just thinking how the villagers are stupid." Sakura mumbled with a small frown.

"Don't worry bout it'. It don't bother me no more," Anko shrugged.

The pinkette's frown deepens; she knew what Anko said was a complete lie, "It's just not fair,"

The special Jonin's expression softens as a genuine smile spreads across her face. Ever since she started to train the pink haired girl, she hardly had to fake her expressions with grins and smirks. She absolutely loved it when she feels her student's chakra flare in annoyance at the comments and whispers behind her back, knowing that her student was pissed off because of people's actions towards her made her feel warm inside and wanted. Though the irony was not lost to her, her student that was twelve years her junior was shielding and defending her as if she was a Genin straight out of the academy. She pulls her 'protector' closer and gives her a comforting squeeze, "don't worry bout' it. Who gives a fuck bout them and what they think, when I got ya."

Sakura blinked at what her teacher said and grins, "Damn right! We're a team!"

Anko chuckles at how adorable her student is.

A.B.I.D

"Ahhh! That hit the spot!" Anko exclaimed, rubbing her stomach as she chugged down another cup of tea.

No matter how much Sakura loves dango, she couldn't quite stop herself from turning green at the sheer amount of dango her teacher ate.

"Ya okay Sakura-chan?" Anko asks worriedly, seeing the pinkette's face turn a light shade of green.

"How can you eat so much?!"

Anko chuckled, "what dango is the best! How can I not?"

"While I'll agree to that, but seriously twenty-seven trays!"

Anko shrugged and sips her tea with her eyes closed.

"…..Hey Anko."

"Hmm?" Said kunoichi opens her eyes, "wassup Sakura-chan?"

"When are you going to teach me some Jutsu?"

Anko sighed and puts her cup down, "I would love ta Sakura-chan but I'm not a lightning affinity user and well everything else in my arsenal is from… him. Yar' not ready for that and I dunno if I'm ever gonna teach you that stuff."

Sakura frowned, "but I dunno my affinity."

The special Jonin blinked, "what ya mean, ya dunno yar' affinity? Didn't Broom Head test it out before he taught ya Chidori?"

Sakura shook her head as her frown deepens, "nope, Kakashi-sensei kind of forced the Chidori onto me. I didn't have a choice on whether I wanted to learn it or not, he just came to my house in the morning, picked me up and made me do the nature manipulation exercise which may I say is a bitch. It took me five days!"

Anko raised a brow, _to use an elemental Jutsu without the right affinity…. Her chakra control must be better than anyone thought. To be able to do that, her control must be perfect or close to it._ She shakes her head with a sigh at the stupidity of Hatake Kakashi and inwardly cursed the grey haired, masked idiot of a Jonin for clearly neglecting her student and overlooking the girl's talent, _and people call the sexist bastard a Genius._ Standing up she throws a stack of bills onto the table. "Come on then, let's go teach ya, yar' new jutsu."

A.B.I.D

"Alright, Sakura-chan the first Jutsu I'ma teach ya is, Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

Sakura blinked at the familiar name of the Jutsu, "Isn't that the Uchiha clan's Jutsu?"

Anko scoffed, "who in hell told ya that?"

Sakura makes a face as she tries to remember who told her that piece of information, "I think it was Sasuke….."

Anko scowled and mumbled, "Just like those damned ass Uchihas to take someone else's credit." She turns her attention back on the pinkette, "don't believe bullshit like that. The Uchiha may claim that they 'created' techniques but they actually copied them and altered them but I won't get into that bullshit right now. This Jutsu is mainly known by Uchiha's but also common among fire users. I'ma show ya then ya try it," she does the hand signs; snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse and tiger and makes a small circle with her thumb and index finger, inches away from her lips before releasing a big fire ball. "This Jutsu takes a lot of the user's chakra that's why ya won't find many fresh Genin with it. Remember when I said there was three ways to increase a person's chakra."

Sakura nods, "let me guess, exhausting my chakra through the use of ninjutsu."

"Bingo, but don't overexert yarself. An important fact of training and growing stronger is knowing yar limits. Exerting yarself to the point of exhaustion will do the opposite as yar body will not have a balanced amount of recuperating and training."

The pinkette nodded, who would have thought Anko would be such a good teacher, and better than Kakashi-sensei? "Don't I need the elemental exercise for this?"

Anko shook her head, "Ya'll be fine, just imagine fire, and how it feels and looks. Then try to replicate it with yar chakra. But ya need to remember to coat ya throat in chakra before using the jutsu or else ya gonna burn ya throat."

"So the seals are snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse and tiger?"

Anko nods. "The loop is like a guide line when releasing yar chakra, for some reason it betters ya control. As yar mastery of the jutsu increases ya won't need to do it and ya won't need to do as many seals."

The Genin turns away from her teacher and faces the lake, she closes her eyes as she imagines fire – the heat, colour, smell and sound. As she feels her chakra start to heat up and pool at her chest, she goes through the six hand signs and then does the loop thing in front of her mouth. With a big breath she releases the chakra. A puff of smoke and a pellet of fire comes out, less than five inches long. Her lips dip downwards. Seems she's not a fire elemental after all.

"Yar' didn't put enough chakra into it Sakura-chan and ya didn't fully change ya chakra into fire chakra. Use ya eyes and watch my chakra."

Sakura's eyes flicker yellow and her pupils stretch. The tomoes spin rapidly as they watch Anko's chakra swirl, warm up and colour changing from blue to red. Without hand signs, Anko breathes out another fireball across the lake. "Got it?"

With a nod, Sakura steps backwards and closes her eyes once again to replicate what she just saw. Copying the movement of her teacher's chakra and the feel of it, she once again does the six hand signs and breathes out. Another pellet of fire was produces however it was longer and wider. She could feel the slight change in temperature.

 _What? The doujutsu is able to replicate chakra flow?_ Anko told her student to use her doujutsu as it allows her to see chakra and how it flows however when Sakura was gathering her chakra and moulding it, she felt it the change in the younger girl's chakra. It was exactly the same way in which she moulded her chakra when using her fire techniques. If this was one of the abilities of her student's nameless kekkei genkai then it would mean that her student could learn any jutsu! "As expected, this is yar first time using fire affinity; just keep practising til' yar chakra is near exhaustion. The flame will eventually get bigger."

With a nod the pinkette goes through the six seals again and exhales, another pellet comes out. And she goes through the seal once again…

A.B.I.D

Anko sighed as she lifts her student off the ground and onto her back. She walks off for twenty minutes to get them some food and returns to find the girl exhausted and sleeping due to overexertion. A part of her was annoyed at the pinkette for ignoring her warning about not overexerting herself. This was third time this week that she has passed out from exhaustion, the only difference is that it was usually near the end of their training sessions. She looks up and estimates the time being around four o'clock, Sakura's parents should be home as she remembers Sakura telling her they returned a few days ago. She grimaces, she really didn't really want to be bugged by her student's parents especially because they were civilian and because of Sakura's condition, it makes the situation even more troublesome. Civilian parents were always overly paranoid over their ninja kid's condition even if it were only a scratch and on top of that she didn't know how they would react to her being the pinkette's teacher, she really didn't want her mood to sour because of some fake ass smile. With her decision settled she nods to herself and leaps across the rooftops to the direction of her house.

A.B.I.D

Sakura groaned as she opens her eyes, her hands immediately grab her head. The head splitting headache throbbed even more when she tries to get up. Why oh' why, does she have to be a bull head and try the stupid Jutsu again when she knew her chakra was almost drained? She should have listened to Anko's warning about over exerting herself! Giving up on trying to sit up, she lies back down and turns to the side to get comfortable. She smiles in content as she a familiar scent wafts through her nose. The odd mixture of sugar and forest made her snuggle into the pillow even more… Her eyes open. _Where the hell am I?!_ She forces herself to sit up and examines her surroundings, her brows furrow in confusion at where she was.

"Ahhh, so ya finally up." A familiar cheerful voice catches her attention.

"Anko? Where in hell am I?" her face still scrunched into an expression of confusion.

The special Jonin leans against the door frame, "my house. Where else would ya be?"

Sakura nods, unfortunately the movement only increased the throbbing and she groaned loudly. "Can I have some aspirin or something?"

Anko grinned, eyes sparkling with a playful sadistic glint, "nope."

"Eh?! Why not?"

"Take it as punishment for being stubborn and not listening to my warning about overexerting yourself." The special Jonin replied seriously.

Sakura's frown deepens, "yeah, yeah, I won't do it again." Her eyes widening into puppy dog eyes.

Anko rolled her eyes though she was doing it to divert her attention away from the pinkette; she wasn't sure whether she could ignore the expression if her student wore it. She inwardly frowned, the pinkette could affect her in ways no one else could. She sighed; _I'm gonna need to deal with it later. Maybe I should chat to Yuhi bout' it._ "There's food in the kitchen, it's gonna help with that headache."

In a matter of seconds the pinkette was on her feet and dashed out of the room. Anko shook her head, sometimes her student was an idiot. She follows her student out of her room and couldn't help but laugh at the girl. Sakura was perched up against her refrigerator with a weird expression on her face. You could mistake her for being drunk.

"It's not funny, Anko!" Sakura growled with a glare – though it wasn't her best since her head was throbbing and room seemed to be moving.

"From where I'm standing it is."

The pinkette's eyes narrow even more.

"Sit down; I'ma get ya some food." The younger girl did as she was told this time and at a much slower place, she really didn't need another head rush.

"Onigiri and red bean soup?" Sakura's face lights up as she quickly digs into her food.

The special Jonin chuckles, "remember to breathe Sakura-chan."

The pinkette shrugs and carries on eating at an inhuman pace.

"Taste good?"

Sakura nods, "yep and your right food does help with the headache."

"Hmm it's getting late, ya should get going."

Sakura blinks and looks at the clock, "Ah! How long was I asleep for?"

"About five hours."

Sakura frowns, "great, I won't be sleeping tonight."

"Ere'." The special Jonin tosses three scrolls at her student, "go to the lake and practise yar fire Jutsu, if ya want and study up on them scrolls. They're gonna be the next Jutsus ima teach ya."

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu, Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu and Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu. Eh? What makes you think, I can learn Gōryūka no Jutsu. It's a B-rank level technique." Sakura asked in disbelief.

"Trust me Sakura-chan, ya gonna have no problem with it. I specifically chose them for ya, these techniques are flexible, and they can be in cooperated into multiple styles. The Gōryūka no Jutsu will be a piece of cake once ya mastered, Gokakyu no Jutsu. Their basically the same Jutsu but Gōryūka no Jutsu, ya need to shape the fireball into a dragon and it has a better range and more power but ya gonna need to use more chakra. Don't worry we aint in no hurry." Anko explained, _besides you learnt Chidori in a week without the correct elemental affinity._

Sakura sighed, _if Anko believes in me then why don't I?_ "Alright I'm going to the lake to work on my Gōryūka no Jutsu."

"Don't exhaust yourself this time, I don't wanna turn up at the training ground tomorrow morning to find ya passed out understand."

Sakura's brows furrowed, "aren't you coming?"

The special Jonin shook her head, "I got reports to do and stuff to take care of."

Sakura frowned, "Alright, thanks for the food by the way."

Anko chuckled, "no problem, remember be careful. Don't spend too long out there, yar' gonna need a good night's rest for tomorrow."

"What do you mean for tomorrow?" Fear crawling into her tone.

"I think it's time ta change the regime, don't ya think? We're still gonna have our spars and yar' still gonna go through the course til' ya can go through it without your doujutsu and without getting a scratch." The pinkette groaned at the last part.

"Fine…. Can you teach me the Shunshin no Jutsu?" She asked with a hopeful grin.

"If ya can get the Gōryūka no Jutsu by tomorrow then I will."

Sakura pouts, "That's not fair! Why can't you just teach me it?"

Anko chuckled again, "I don't need you using it all the time like Hatake."

"Fine, if I can get the Gōryūka no Jutsu by the end of tomorrow's session then you have to teach me Shunshin no Jutsu!"

Anko nods, "deal." And they shake hands, "now get outta ere', I got a tonne of shit to do unless ya wanna do it for me."

Sakura blinked, _like hell am I doing her work for her!_ "Haha! That's fine, I'm going now. See you tomorrow Anko!" Without another word the girl ran out the front door, leaving a chuckling Anko.

A.B.I.D

Anko growled, scrunching up another piece of paper and carelessly throwing it over her shoulder, it's been two hours since she started her paperwork but her head wasn't into it. Looking at the pile on her desk, she frowned. _Why couldn't Ibiki do these?! Damn scar head!_ She looks back at her clock then out of the window with a worried expression, "Damn it!" she yelled as she slammed her hand onto her desk, she's become too attached to the pinkette! Scowling she kicks her chair backwards and grabs her trademark overcoat. _I just know the kid did something stupid._

True to her thoughts, when she arrived at the training ground the pinkette was once again knocked out from exhaustion. With a scowl she heaves the girl onto her back for a second time and leaves the training ground.

As she leaped over the rooftops, she inwardly cursed herself for her stupidity – her clone could have done the paperwork while she supervised Sakura's training.

A.B.I.D

"OW! Anko, what was that for?!" the pinkette screeched, her hands rubbing the back of her head where she got thumped by her teacher.

"Idiot! What did I tell ya yesterday?!" The special Jonin asked with a glare.

Sakura looks down guilty, "to be careful and don't spend too long out here."

"Exactly and when I come to check on ya, what do I fucking find?! Ya on the fucking ground, passed out!" Anko yelled, bonking the girl on her head once again.

Sakura pouts as she rubs her head, "sorry, it won't happen again."

"Better not," The purple headed kunoichi sighed, "alright let's get started on the course."

A.B.I.D

The pinkette crawled to the edge of the lake and grabs a handful of water and dunks it over her head. Her teacher was serious about changing her regime. And she thought the first one was bad, the laps, push ups, sit ups and what nots. But unfortunately Anko just had to go and prove her wrong and show her that she could do much worst. It seems that the first two weeks were nothing but practise and getting her ready for the real torture sessions. She looks up and groans, _not even lunch yet._ She could only hope that she can survive the rest of the day and with the way things were going so far, she doubted she would.

 _I'm definitely getting punished for ignoring her warnings…._ Mental note to self; always listen to Anko – only if the instructions are plausible, reasonable and sane. For the first two or three hours, her teacher made her go through the ANBU course over and over again until she was happy, she did improve with each try but she wasn't good enough to avoid everything that came at her. The next activity wasn't as bad, as it was a game of tag. Anko would disappear to somewhere in the village whilst she used her chakra to find her. Her teacher carried that on for the next hour and then that was when the activities got bad, the course was a breeze compared to what came next. Her crazy teacher decided to summon five snakes which she had to out run and make sure she didn't get caught whilst dodging attacks from Anko which included the monster woman shooting snakes from her sleeve – for this exercise Anko restricted her to only dodging and the use of the three basic academy ninjutsu; clone, substitution and transformation. To make matters worse the snakes were poisonous, as she just found out the venom of the snakes affect her chakra and drives it haywire. And when asked why, the monster woman shrugged and said something along the lines of her needing an immunity to poison. _Did Orochimaru train her like this too?_

"Ere' Sakura-chan," Anko hands her student a small vile.

"What's this?" Sakura questioned as she examines the small bottle curiously.

"It's an antidote for the poison; it'll flush out the poison from yar system and set it back to normal."

The pinkette nods and without a second thought downs the vile. After drinking the abnormal coloured liquid, she sticks out her tongue and starts to spit. "Yuck! EW! What the hell Anko?!"

Said Jonin cackled at the response, "Guess I forgot to tell ya that it tastes bad. Oops."

The pinkette glared at the special Jonin, her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

"Ya kno, ya might wanna put that back in. Someone might mistake ya for a ninken." Anko grinned.

"Shut up! If you made an antidote with better flavour then I wouldn't have my tongue out and I DO NOT LOOK LIKE A NINKEN!" Sakura yelled folds her arms across her chest, her tongue still hanging out of her mouth.

"Hmm, I gotta disagree. Ya kinda remind me of what his face… Bull. One of Broom Head's trackers,"

The Genin shoots another glare at her teacher.

"Ya not really mad at me, are ya?"Getting no reply the special Jonin pouts, "Aw come on Sakura-chan I was just kidding!" The pinkette huffed and turns away from her teacher. "Come on, Saku-chan! ya kno I wasn't serious." The special Jonin's bottom lip sticks out even more at being ignored; she pokes the younger girl's side. The corner of her lips turn upward when she sees her student twitch at the poke, she pokes her side again, and again her student twitches. A mischievous gleam sparkles in her chocolate orbs – _so Sakura-chan's ticklish huh?_

Sakura swallowed, inwardly praying she schooled her twitch and her teacher didn't notice but unfortunately luck never seemed to be on her side when Anko was involved. Before she could blink, she was tackled to the ground with Anko straddling her waist as the special Jonin wore a grin and tickled her sides.

"O-okay Anko, I'm not mad a-at you a-anymore! S-s-stop, p-please!" Sakura giggled, she tried to twist out of the special Jonin's grip but it only increased the tickling.

"Alright, now that's over. Let's get back to trainin'." Anko grinned at finding another weakness of her student.

The pinkette groaned, "don't I get a break?!"

"Ya just had one."

"That wasn't a break!"

"Tough, time ta get back ta work."

Sakura pouts, _she's even worse than when they started!_ "So what next?"

"Ya gonna practise ya Chidori."

The pinkette blinks as her face twists into an expression of confusion, "I thought you weren't a lightning user?"

"Yeah, I aint but that don't mean I can't help ya improve with it."

"But I don't have any bandages with me; I can't control the charge very well. The lightning burns my arm if I don't have any on."

Anko sighed, "Alright keep practicing ya Gōryūka no Jutsu. I'll go get ya some." And with that the special Jonin disappeared with a poof.

A.B.I.D

When Anko returned to the training ground, she half expected to find her student passed out again. Unfortunately she got held up by some idiots – a couple of Genin from another country was causing a racket and she had to go deal with it. However when she arrived at the training ground, she did not expect to see her student jumping, flipping, running and dancing around, laughing like a maniac.

Feeling her teachers chakra return back to the training grounds, the pinkette stops dancing around and speeds towards her teacher with a grin, "Anko-sensei! I did it! I did it!"

Anko blinks and tilts her head in confusion, "did what?"

"I mastered the Jutsu!"

Anko blinks again, she only started training her yesterday… "Show me."

The pinkette sprints back to the edge of the lake and does the six hand signs, "Gōryūka no Jutsu!" She gathers her chakra and then exhales – a large scale fireball flew across the lake.

Anko's eyes widen in surprise, she didn't expect the pinkette to learn it this quickly….. _If she can already use the Gōryūka no Jutsu after a day's training then she must have a high affinity for fire, now to test water_ … Maybe just maybe she could teach her those Jutsu… "Nice job Sakura-chan. Ere's ya bandages. Come on lets go get somethin' to eat." She wrapped her arm around the pinkette shoulder and leads her out of the training ground.

A.B.I.D

Finishing her skewer eagerly, she downs her cup of tea before grabbing another.

"Hungry?"

The pinkette nods and picks up another, swallowing her dango she grins. "So Shunshin no Jutsu?"

"Oh yeah, the bet yesterday." Anko replies, taking another skewer.

"Yep! You lost!" Sakura grins.

"I'll teach ya it tomorrow; today we're gonna work on yar Chidori and a new Jutsu. Ya did read the scrolls right?"

The Genin nods, "so what am I learn first?"

"Suiton: Mizurappa."

Sakura blinked in confusion, "but that's water element, the scrolls you gave me yesterday were all fire."

"I know, I didn't expect ya to get the Gōryūka no Jutsu so quickly, it took me three days to even get where yar are now. I was gonna teach ya the Mizurappa while ya master the Gōryūka. The Mizurappa Jutsu is one of the basic water elemental Jutsu."

Sakura nods, "but I'm not a water elemental… since I can use fire won't it be harder for me to use water since fire is weak to water?"

Ah, here was her students book smarts. Anko smirked at her student's nerdy-ness. "In theory that is correct but we dunno ya chakra nature. Even if we did find out yar' chakra nature that wouldn't matter, a person's chakra nature is not permanent, it just tells ya that you have an affinity for a specific nature which will give ya an easier time learning whatever jutsu ya tryna learn. Ya weren't a lightning elemental from what ya told me and we didn't even know if ya can use fire yesterday."

Sakura nodded at the explanation then tilted her head, "If you can use two elements then why are you a special jonin? Aren't the requirements for someone to be the rank of jonin that they need to be able to use at least two elements?"

Anko nodded and mumbled, "Yeah, but after what happened with ya know who. The council were givin' me a hard time, it would be much easier for some like Hatake to be Hokage than me becoming a full jonin. So I worked on what I do best and the Hokage gave me a field promotion." Sakura frowned at the explanation, her dislike of the people of Konoha deepened. The pinkette grit her teeth as the seal on her neck swirled.

Noticing her student's mood darken, she poked her forehead to get her attention. "But it don't matter anymore, just cos' I'm a special jonin doesn't mean I can't do what a full-fledged jonin can. Don't worry about it sakura-chan" Anko finished with a ruffle of her students hair. "We're getting off point, by the way I noticed yesterday that ya have the ability to replicate chakra flow and shape yesterday, it shouldn't be a problem." She finished off much quieter.

"Replicate chakra flow and shape?" Sakura whispered, knowing it had to something to do with her doujutsu, this snapped her out of her darkening mood.

Anko nodded, "I think that's how ya moulded ya chakra to fire chakra that quickly."

"I see…. So how does it work?"

"Kinda like the Gōryūka no Jutsu but not a fire ball."

"That's a great description!"

Anko rolls her eyes and conks the younger girl on the head, "Shut it, I wanna keep it a surprise."

The pinkette pouted, "Can we go now?"

Anko raised a brow, "ya done?"

Sakura nods, "I feel much better now, my chakra has at least returned by half now."

The purple headed Jonin put some money down on the table and put her hand on her student's shoulder, they disappeared in a poof.

A.B.I.D

"That was awesome!" her emerald irises brighten as she grins, "my Chidori is so gonna rock once I master water affinity."

Anko chuckles, "Ya bet but not so fast. We went to eat so ya can replenish ya energy ta practise ya Chidori."

"Awww….."

A.B.I.D

The pinkette looks up at the boulder from her position on the ground, it had a deep hole. She was able to make a more powerful and bigger Chidori than when she was with Kakashi but it wasn't a full powered one! She glared at the boulder, even with all the training she's been doing she hasn't got the stamina or chakra for one full powered Chidori. _Maybe I should name it Chibi Chidori and tell everyone it's my own variation._

"Ya gotten better…" Anko nods as she examines the hole.

"Yeah but not enough," she frowned, "I can't make a full sized one."

Anko turns around, "ya forgetting something…."

Sakura scowled, "what's that?"

"Ya don't have ya full chakra reserves."

The pinkette blinks, _Oh yeah! How can I forget I only had about half!_ The corner of her lips turns upwards as her lips stretch into a grin. She looks up in surprise at the hand on top of her head, "ya have improved a lot Sakura-chan, stop being so hard on yourself. Go get ya self-rested up and come back in two hours."

Sakura smiled at the praise, "thanks Anko-sensei…."

A.B.I.D

"Well, well, well, if it isn't forehead girl."

The pinkette's eye twitched at the ever so familiar voice, her eyes confirmed what her ears already told her. Leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest was her friend and rival; Yamanaka Ino.

"Tch, Ino-pig."

"So forehead girl, where have you bee-" she cut herself as her blue eyes trail down her rival's body, she immediately leaps off the door frame and in front of her rival at seeing the rip, tears and dried blood on her clothes. "What on Earth happened to you Sakura? You look like you had another round of the Chunin exams."

Irony wasn't lost on her as she made the same comparison the day before. "I wish….. Don't worry about it pig, the tears and stains of blood are the result of training." She waves a dis-concerning hand at her rival.

"Training? But you didn't get into the finals and what's with the new outfit? It does make you look good though. Would've been better without the rips and dry blood."

Sakura sighed, wincing inwardly as she remembered the draw against her rival. Though at times she did wonder whether the interference of the curse seal was what cost her the match, as much as she hates to admit it she has even thought of what would have happened if she used the mark – though that lead to some memories that was better stayed forgotten. "Yeah and that match showed me that I needed to start training properly if I want to catch up to Naruto and Sasuke. It showed me just how far ahead the two were."

The blond blinked in shock at the reply, she was shocked that the pinkette actually said that sentence to her civilly without shouting or a hint of venom in her tone. Before Sakura would raise her voice as a way to make herself seem confident such as times when she would but heads with her over Sasuke. Hell, she was even more shocked at the reason to why she was training, it wasn't anything to do with her…. It was to catch up to Sasuke-kun and Naruto (she would never admit out loud that she thought Naruto was strong). Looking the pinkette over again, she realised there was something different with the girl. Her body language was more relaxed and somewhat concealed, but most importantly she stood with a confidence that was hard to pinpoint but she's known the girl for practically forever, this was something she never seen before. It's like she finally bloomed.

"You know Ino-pig, are you just going to stand there and stare at me all day?" Sakura raised a brow.

"Umm… No," The blonde coughed into her hand, "what are you doing here forehead girl?"

The pinkette shrugged, "I was going to get some food but since I found you. Can you do me a favour?"

Ino blinks again; her mind half thinking the girl in front of her was a spy. The Sakura she knew, should and would be butting heads and yelling with her over Sasuke-kun. _Maybe she's given up._ "Depends on what?"

"Can you cut my hair for me?" Sakura asks as she examines a few strands with a scowl.

"W-what?! B-but Sasuke-kun loves long hair!" she couldn't believe it, her rival was giving up on Sasuke-kun!

The pinkette shrugged, "it gets in the way of my training… So are you going to help me or not?"

"D-does that mean you're giving up on Sasuke-kun?" Ino asks with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

Sakura shrugged again, "It gets in the way of my training." Her eyes narrow at her rival playfully, a mischievous grin breaks out on her face – definitely something she got from Anko, "Just because I'm cutting my hair doesn't mean you can have him. Ino-pig, I'd be living in a horror movie if you were a part of our family."

Ino's face morphs into one of surprise at her friend's expression, definitely something new. She's never seen Sakura with that expression before. Thinking again, the eyes and grin looks kind of familiar….. Definitely a Naruto expression, has she fallen in love with Naruto? Her face turns red as the last part reach her ears before a confused expression paints its way onto her face. "What do you part of our family?"

"Team seven duh! If you were to get with him then you'd be my sister-in-law and Kami forbid that ever happening!"

 _Sister in law? Wait that means…_ "Eeek! Who are you and what have you done with Sakura?!"

"What the hell Ino-pig?! Have you gone and lost a few screws these past few weeks?"

"I could say the same for you, I don't see you for a few weeks and suddenly Sasuke-kun is your brother and you want to cut your hair?!"

Sakura scoffed, "problem?"

"Yes! What have you done with forehead girl?"

"For fucksakes Pig, I'm not some spy or imposter!"

Ino's eyes widened at her friend's language, sure she's heard her long-time rival swear and curse before but never so freely and openly that was definitely a new 'characteristic'. Her eyes narrow suspiciously, once realising she was openly gawking at the pinkette. She asked, "So you're not after Sasuke-kun anymore?" the pinkette shakes her head, "you want me to cut your hair?" the pinkette nods. Ino sighed not even bothering to try to figure out what was going on with her oldest friend, "alright, crazy forehead girl, I have no idea what's going on with you but I'll cut your hair."

A.B.I.D

"You got any food?" Sakura asked as she looks at her new cut in the mirror, the bangs that usually circled were styled so it covers her wider than normal forehead. After convincing her friend that the bangs were not due to her insecurity of her forehead but due to wanting a new style though the true reason was because with bangs hid her eyes from view, which would her the opportunity of using her doujutsu without being noticed. The back, sides and top were cut shorter and it naturally spiked itself up messily. She snorted at herself, now she really looked like a boy.

Ino raised an eye brow as she cleaned the hair off the floor, she had to admit that as she looked at her rival with her new hairdo and the tom-boyish outfit, it made her friend look quite handsome. "What do I look like your maid? You know where everything is, go get it yourself forehead."

Sakura rolled her eyes as she walked towards the kitchen, "gee you sure no how to treat your guests." She drawled out sarcastically.

The blonde rolled her eyes at the response and followed her rival into the kitchen once she was done sweeping. Her eyes bulged at the amount of food on kitchen table, it was already littered with three empty instant Ramen cups and chip packets. "You really can't call me pig anymore Sakura…"

Said girl blinked as she swallowed the mouthful of ramen, "You got any dango?" she asked before moving onto the other prepared cup of instant Ramen.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" her stomach churned as she watched her friend swallow the contents of the cup.

"Nope, I need to replenish my strength for training. So you got any dango?"

"Maybe all that training is effecting your memory forehead, you know I don't like sweets." She ignored the look that the other girl was giving her at the obvious lie – she didn't eats sweets because she was on a diet. "I do have some onigiri and a bento that my kaasan made if you want it."

"Alright bring'em here… Wait you sure you don't want the bento? Ayame-ba made it for you."

"It doesn't matter, I don't even finish them I usually give the rest to Choji. But today is one of those days were I don't feel like eating, tousan will eat it when he returns later, so it doesn't matter." The blond shrugged as she sat herself down on the opposite of her rival, watching in sheer wonder as the girl hoover-ed the plate of onigiri and bento. Shaking her head, she stood up to get her friend a drink.

"Thanks." Sakura grinned as she downed the glass of water, she rubbed her stomach in content.

"What is up with you Sakura?"

Said girl blinked at the tone and the look on the blondes face. "What you mean?"

"Your different, you asked me to cut your hair and please explain to me why it is darker than it was before. Then you raid my kitchen and eat like Naruto does with Ramen."

Sakura sighed, "I told you long hair gets in the way of my training and I used a lot of chakra during training. I needed the food to replenish it."

"You didn't answer my question about your hair colour and don't tell me it has something to do with your family because I've asked tousan and he said hair doesn't randomly change colour…. Now that I think of it, your hair was like that during the second stage of the Chunin exams." Ino tapped her chin with a finger as the memory tickled her brain.

Sakura inwardly winced, hoping Ino wouldn't remember when she originally saw her. Team ten had been there when she had woken up, lusting for blood and with a need of violence. That was when her hair changed colour.

"…your hair…. If I remember correctly it was different during the fight against that sound team, you had those marks and then you…." The blonde trailed off as that frightening memory returned – one of her clans abilities were to compartmentalize though not really a Kekkei Genkai the Yamanakas had an easier time at compartmentalizing than others, that's what she did with the event against the three sound ninjas but unfortunately she opened that compartment and pulled out the memory. A ring of fear swirled in the blonde's cerulean eyes, "Sakura…."

"Ino don't…"

"Don't what?! You don't want explain to me what that was. Don't want to explain to me why you killed those ninjas. Don't want to explain to me why you literally tore them to shreds. Don't want to explain to me where that thing came from!" Ino's voice raised with each word, she stood and slammed her hands on the table with each question.

Sakura flinched at each sentence, her jaw clenching together. "I can't."

"You can't or won't! What are yo-" she cuts herself off as a certain detail of their match tickled her memory, "Y-you were going to use that thing during our match! WASN'T YOU!"

"WHAT! NO! I wasn't going to use it during our match Ino, it activated on its own. I just barely managed to push it back before it took control."

Seeing nothing but truth in the emerald irises, Ino calms down a little and sits back down. "Please Sakura can you tell me what it is…."

"…. I can only tell you that it is a curse seal, more specifically the curse seal of heaven. I'm sorry Ino but the Hokage said it was classified."

"Curse seal of heaven…." Ino repeated as her brows furrow, she sighed in defeat. She couldn't even ask her father for information if it was classified. "At least tell me you have it under control."

"Yeah, Kaka-sensei sealed it for me after our match. I can't use it." That was a lie as the seal that Kakashi put on the mark would only hold as long as she didn't want the power but Ino doesn't need to know that.

"Well good…"

Glancing at the clock, Sakura's eyes widened as she realised that her two hour were almost up. Thankfully, now she had an excuse to get away. "Well, thanks for the food Ino. But I'm gonna be late for my training." With that said the pinkette leaped out the open window.

A.B.I.D

"Nice haircut." Anko nodded approvingly.

Sakura smiled back, "Yeah, it kept getting in the way."

"I take it ya properly rested?"

"Yep, had a lot of food."

"Alright then, work of yar Gokakyu no Jutsu."

"But I showed you earlier I can use the technique!"

Anko sighed before crossing her arms over her chest, "exactly ya learnt the technique but ya ain't mastered it yet. Ya still need to do six hand signs when performing the technique. The only way to reduce the number of signs needed is to practise more."

The pinkette pouted as she stomped to the edge of the lake and went through the six hand signs.

For the next two days, the routine was the same except when during the exercise where she had to evade the snakes and her psychotic teacher – after paying her end of the deal (Shunshin no Jutsu) Anko allowed her to use it in the exercise. Though not proficient at it, she was competent enough to use it dodge attacks a few times, however she had problems with randomly teleporting to places – on one of her trials she ended up teleporting into the hot springs, the amount of profanities that came from her mouth was unreal! She wasn't even aware she knew that many swear words. After the physical training during the day, they would use the rest of the evening practising ninjutsu and then ended with a spar, Anko made sure to stop her before she could collapse from over exertion. Like Anko theorised her doujutsu had the ability to copy chakra flow and shape, as she did when she watched Anko manipulate her chakra into water elemental chakra. Her Gokakyu no Jutsu was getting stronger, an upside was that the practise of it increased her chakra rapidly. She still needed the use of hand signs to use the technique however she was now able to use it with four single hand signs – why the academy did not educate the kids on single hand signs was beyond her. Her Mizurappa Jutsu hasn't really improved that much. As she predicted, she had a harder time moulding water element due to her chakra 'memory' knowing the structures of fire. She could use the technique at a short distance.

A.B.I.D

"Bout' time ya got ere', Yuhi!" Anko said, her brown eyes full of excitement and her lips spread into a full blown grin, the exclaim-tion caught the attention of the pinkette as she turned in their direction with a confused expression before shrugging and carrying on with the ANBU course.

The Jonin sensei of Team eight rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue, "you never change Anko. Still as impatient as you were a few weeks ago. Though now that I think of it, I haven't seen you in a while." Her red eyes narrow suspiciously, "you haven't seek-ed me out in almost a month to shirk any of your bills on me…."

"Hehe." The purple headed kunoichi scratched the back of her neck with a sheepish grin. "Oh ya know, I've been busy doing this and that…"

With another roll of her eyes, she turns to Sakura with a curious expression. She was impressed that the girl could get even half way through the course, "so why did you call me out here, Anko? And you better have a legitimate reason," her eyes narrowing at her wild friend.

"Well, ya see Sakura-chan is my new student…."

Kurenai's eyes widen in shock at that piece of information, "you have a student?!"

"Wasn't I jus' sayin' dat. Anyways Sakura-chan there, has awesome chakra control." Anko nods in the Genin's direction.

The black haired kunoichi turns back to the training course; her eyes narrowing at her friend's new student. _Pink hair? Sakura? Why does that seem so familiar?_ Her eyes widen again as her brain connects the dots, "hold on! Haruno Sakura?! As in Kakashi's student is your student?"

Anko frowned, giving the other Jonin a half-hearted glare, "well she aint his anymore."

Kurenai's brows furrow slightly at how possessive her friend is over the pinkette, she must really be fond of the girl. At the new revelation, the Jonin of team eight could barely school her expression of surprise. After her friend's past with Orochimaru, she swore to never make attachments with the exceptions of her and the Hokage but then again Sakura is the only person in the village that can relate to Anko. She blinks as she remembers what her friend was talking about before she got off topic, "and let me guess, you want me to teach her Genjutsu."

"Yeah!" Anko answered with a cheerful grin.

Kurenai sighed, "I have students as well, Anko"

"Soooooo! Only what's his face is going to the finals anyways!" Anko whined. "Or should I call him what's his shades…" the wild woman cackled at her own joke.

Kurenai rolled her eyes being used to her wild friend's antics, "and _Shino_ needs training." She put emphasis on her student's name.

"Yeah and I bet this whole month, ya didn't even train him. He's probably been training with his clan."

Kurenai sighed and rubbed in circular motions at her right temple, knowing this was one of the endless arguments that she would not win as when it comes to stubbornness and persistence, no one could best Anko. "Very well, but the next three meals are on you and if she shows no talent for Genjutsu then I won't even bother."

"Ya got it Yuhhi." Anko nodded, inwardly she was wondering where she was going to get the money from. Because when Yuuhi Kurenai is able to corner her and get payback for her dango bills, she usually picked the most expensive places to dine…. But now she had to pay for three of these meals. _What I do for you Sakura-chan…._ "Don't worry bout' it, Sakura-chan ain't gonna let ya down. She's a real prodigy in the makin'"

Kurenai raised a brow at her friend before turning back to the Genin that was returning back over the course, she had to say she was impressed with the girl's performance after all those courses were for ANBU trainees. She turns back to her friend, how much has Haruno Sakura improved in a mere twenty days? To be able to complete an ANBU training course and get such high praise from someone like Anko who was almost impossible to impress. Could this really be the same little Genin of Kakashi's? "…Really?"

"Mhm," Anko nodded cheerfully with a grin.

Seeing only truth in her friend's chocolate brown orbs, she turns back to the pink haired Genin. Her eyes squint as something catches her eyes, _she has weights!_ _She's going through an ANBU course with weights!_ "How much do her weights weigh?"

"So ya noticed, "Anko shrugged a shoulder, "we just changed them to the chakra enhancing ones. She has about fifty kilograms on her arms and seventy-five kilograms on her legs."

"Weights aren't your style Anko."

The wild woman of Konoha shrugged again, "the kid needs the speed especially if she wants to use Chidori to its maximum potential."

The black haired Jonin's eyes widen, "Chidori?! Kakashi taught her Chidori?!"

Anko grinned, "Yeah, Sakura-chan still needs some help with it but she's getting better with it." She turns her attention to the pinkette, "Hey Sakura-chan, go over some Jutsu 'til I'm done."

"So how long did it take her to learn the Chidori and how did she end up as your student?

Anko's grin stretched even wider across her face, clearly showing pride, "It took her a week and it was kinda unexpected, Hokage-sama asked me if I wanna train her and I said yeah. Ya kno' I couldn't ask for a better student."

Kurenai's eyes widen at the first answer but the second turned her ruby orbs into dinner plates. What did the pinkette mean to her friend to get such praise, the tone Anko spoke with, was nothing but genuine fondness. Her grin wasn't even fake; it was actually reaching her eyes. Though Anko thinks she hid her pain away from her, she knows that her friend's smirks, grins and smiles have been fake over the years, for the first time in years she's seen her friend so relaxed and carefree. "She can use fire element?"

"And water." Anko's grin stretched wider across her face. The red eyed Jonin could hear the undertone of the reply – 'the perfect student for me' which she had to agree since Anko can use both fire and water elements.

Kurenai blinked, the girl must be something if she can get Anko's approval especially with the way her friend was making it known that the pinkette was hers. _Possessive much?_ She inwardly smirks, oh how she couldn't wait to tease Anko about it but back to the matter at hand, what had Anko done with Haruno Sakura? She could feel the girl's chakra has at least quadrupled in the last three weeks but how is it possible for a person to have improved so much, so quickly? More importantly how is it possible for a Genin that came out of the academy four months ago with skills of a kunoichi that just barely scraped the surface, be able to use three of the five primary elements? From what she remembered correctly about the girl's preliminary match, she knew only basic academy taijutsu and academy ninjutsu, "Anko, what did you do with her to make her advance so quickly?"

The special Jonin chuckles, "not me Yuhi, it was all her. She only needed some attention which Broom Head couldn't give."

The black haired Jonin's eyes narrow slightly; there was something more to it. It was not possible for a person to advance so much in just under three weeks. She turns her head back to the pink haired girl, she knew better than to press on. Though she had a feeling that it has something to do with a certain curse seal that both her friend and new... Student have. Her lips twitch upwards a little of the thought of the pink haired girl being her new student, not that she would say it out loud after hearing the way Anko claims her as her own. Does Sakura know of Anko's relation to Orochimaru? Is that why Anko is so possessive?

"Anko… does she know of your past?"

Anko blinks at being caught off guard by the question, a grin splits across her lips, "yep and we're a team."

Now it was Kurenai's time to blink, no wonder Anko was so possessive of the pink haired girl. She was the first to accept her and not judge her as a traitor after knowing the truth. A smile makes its way to her lips, _Anko has finally found somebody._ She was truly happy for her friend, she finally found someone she could relate to and trust. Though Anko trusts her, they could never relate to one another for obvious reasons. She's never been under the influence of Orochimaru or any of his Jutsu whilst Anko and her new student both have.

From the impressive show of her skills to the acceptance of Anko, the Genin's name was definitely in her good books. Her lips tug upwards a little bit more, if Anko is confident in the girl's ability to learn Genjutsu then she couldn't wait, excitement bubble in the pit of her stomach. There aren't many Genin that pursue Genjutsu because they either have no talent for it or they think the art is completely useless and meaningless. For once she was actually excited to teach, now don't get her wrong. She loves her students but none of them were suitable to learn Genjutsu, except for Hinata but she doesn't even want to start thinking about what would happen if she taught the former Hyuga heiress something that wouldn't benefit or help their Juken….. Kiba has little to no talent for Genjutsu and Shino simply has no interested in the art. Thinking of her Genin team and Sakura, she frowned. If Sakura's a Genjutsu type then what on Kami's Earth is she doing on Kakashi's team? Her frown deepens. She got three potential clan heirs – two of which have heavy Taijutsu styles and they all have secret clan Jutsu which she couldn't even help with! Whilst Sakura was given to someone like Kakashi, yes the man may know a couple Genjutsu thanks to his Sharingan but everyone knows that no one could compete with her in the art of genjutsu since she is known as the Genjutsu user of her generation. She rubs the bridge of her nose, feeling a migraine coming at just thinking of the team arrangements.

"Ya got the same thought as me?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"What was the Hokage thinking?"

"Dunno but oh wells, ya can teach her now." Anko ended with a grin. "Hey Sakura-chan, that's enough, now get yar' ass over ere'."

The pinkette scowled and walks over with a groan, "you're a slave driver Anko!"

The special Jonin rolls her eyes and pokes the girl's forehead, her scowl deepens. "Sakura-chan, this is Yuhi Kurenai, ya may kno' her. She's gonna be teaching ya Genjutsu for the week and maybe afterwards. Yuhi, this brat is pinkie," a sly smirk spread across the Jonin's mouth as she notices a slight twitch to the girl's eye.

"I thought you stopped that, you damned psycho!"

Anko's eyes narrow, "what ya call me, you pint sized brat!"

"You heard me, monster woman!" and like the first day, glares were exchanged between the two kunoichi.

Clearing her throat, Kurenai gets the attention of both kunoichi's though she was certainly amused by their antics. She smiled as the pinkette's face turned a light shade of red.

"Aw, is Sakura-chan embarrassed?!"

 **A/N: Phew! That was a long chapter. I apologize for the long wait as I was on holiday and it was troublesome to find wifi that was actually use able.**

 **Anyway's I need some help with what to call Sakura's doujutsu... I've racked my brain for a name but haven't had any success. If you have any suggestions please drop a review.**

 **Thank you, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


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